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Essay / Review: Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris
Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim by David Sedaris is a collection of autobiographical essays that describes the difficulties that arise within American families as a young man recounts his childhood and youth as he integrates into the LGBTQ community and struggles to be accepted by his family. This young adult read is told through narration by the author, David Sedaris, now an accomplished author with interviews by NPR. The collection follows his eccentric family as he recalls the childhood memories that shaped him. Sedaris's collection of essays is told through his adult perspective, allowing him to reflect on and understand different occasions when the way his parents treated him and his siblings was quite hard. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay First mentioned in the essay "Us and Them," it is clear that Sedaris adores his mother, Sharon. However, she was regularly unsympathetic towards her own children and in her essay "Let it Snow", Sedaris recounts a time when Sharon ordered her and her siblings to "get out of her house" and stay outside in freezing weather. After tirelessly trying to get back inside, Sedaris remembers looking out the window and seeing his "mother in the kitchen, watching TV" and drinking a glass of wine. It was a scene he and his siblings frequently observed. Sedaris' example of child neglect may relate to some readers who may be going through the same or similar struggles. From a young age, Sedaris was well aware of his homosexual identity which he hid from his parents until an older age. In the essay "Full House", Sedaris's father, Lou, encourages him to attend an all-boys sleepover in hopes of boys turning him into an ordinary boy with little knowledge of budding homosexuality of Sedaris. Later in their relationship, Lou realizes that David was actually gay and struggles to understand. He kicks David out of the house after showing his lack of support and acceptance of Sedaris' sexual identity. This experience contributes to Sedaris's struggle with self-confidence. This reflects many real stories that have been profiled in the news as well as on social media, about young people in the LGBTQ community or anyone struggling with their sexual identity, who may not have the support of their family. As an adult, in his essay “Chicken in the Henhouse,” Sedaris recalls the times when he listened to prejudice against homosexuals in the media. One speaker made a bold statement claiming that "these homosexuals can't reproduce, so they go into schools and try to recruit our young people." This comment was nothing Sedaris hadn't heard before, but naturally he was still slightly offended by this statement. Not only is the LGBTQ community categorized solely into lesbians and gays, but people have also created a stereotype regarding the representation of lesbians and gays. Similar to race or religion, these stereotypical representations vilify marginalized and misunderstood groups. American media has more recently become more sympathetic and shown how the LGBTQ community is helping our society move away from the negative stigma that initially surrounded it. Famous host of the famous talk show “The Ellen Show”, Ellen DeGeneres came out in 1997 and has been a loved one ever since. Not only,.