This paper analyzes David Sedaris's short story "Big Boy" from his collection Me Talk Pretty One Day, arguing that beneath its humor lies a pointed commentary on social conformity and human behavior. The essay identifies two central themes: Sedaris's willingness to confront mundane, taboo realities that most people leave unspoken, and the powerful grip of social norms that compel individuals to act against their own instincts to avoid being perceived as deviant. Through close reading of key passages, the paper demonstrates how Sedaris uses comedy and self-deprecation to expose the shallowness of social conventionalism and reveal how human actions are more often socially motivated than individually driven.
The paper models close reading effectively: it isolates specific passages — such as Sedaris's description of the turd as "long and coiled...as thick as a burrito" and his closing rhetorical questions — and uses them to build thematic arguments about conformity and social pressure. This technique shows how literary analysis derives meaning from precise textual detail rather than plot summary.
The essay opens with a brief contextual introduction to Sedaris's collection, narrows to "Big Boy" as its focus, and states a clear thesis about social motivation versus individual will. It then develops each theme across dedicated paragraphs, with the final paragraph synthesizing both themes into a broader critique of social conventionalism. The conclusion is embedded in the final analytical paragraph rather than presented as a separate section.
In his collection of short stories Me Talk Pretty One Day, author David Sedaris presents his experiences as an individual who gradually grew up in an environment that seemed hostile to what he had become: a homosexual with a lisp, though tremendously knowledgeable about words and talented in composition. This is the first impression the reader receives when reading the opening story, "Go Carolina." As the stories take shape, however, readers are entertained by Sedaris's wit and his ability to speak about the unconfronted — giving a human touch to the already taken-for-granted social mores of contemporary society.
These abilities are best reflected in his short story "Big Boy." A humorous account of Sedaris's encounter with a stubborn turd that was not his own, the experience brings two unique themes to the fore. The first is Sedaris's willingness to confront one of the mundane realities that people face every day yet rarely disclose or examine — such as the problem of dealing with an unflushed toilet. The second theme concerns the lengths to which people will go to save face and avoid being perceived as deviant in front of others.
Given these themes within a humorous story, this paper argues that Sedaris's "Big Boy" is in fact a deep reflection on humanity's daily actions — specifically, how the actions of an individual are motivated socially rather than individually. In "Big Boy," readers witness the influence of social norms at work, overpowering the individual's will to act or not act according to his or her own volition.
The humor embedded in "Big Boy" is apparent in the topic itself. Sedaris, as the individual who tried hard to flush someone else's unflushed turd, serves as an example of someone confronting a mundane reality that most people leave unaddressed. Amusement and disgust are both evident in his tone when he sarcastically describes the turd as "this long and coiled specimen, as thick as a burrito" (97). Though he clearly recognizes the taboo nature of his subject, Sedaris deliberately chooses to communicate what he believes is a topic worth discussing. Indeed, few writers would have the courage to address something as socially forbidden as this, much less describe it in such blatant and effective terms.
Sedaris discusses this experience precisely because he finds it worth examining. What he encountered was a purely human experience, and he aims to convey what a person feels when suddenly confronted with the reality of taking responsibility for someone else's mess. The story's appeal rests on its honest, unabashed humor — a way of lightening an uncomfortable situation that Sedaris frames as the commission of a taboo in civilized society. As the story draws to a close, he reflects on the ordeal: "And I was left thinking that the person who'd abandoned the huge turd had no problem with it, so why did I? … Had a lesson been learned?" (99).
From this insight, Sedaris had clearly shown the feelings of an individual trapped behind the bars of social conventionalism — a feeling that he, being gay and having a lisp, no longer felt alien about. His "unflushed turd" story brings to the fore the shallowness and, at times, the absurdity of human actions and thinking when bound to social conventions that only dictate rather than educate or intellectually develop the individual.
Sedaris, David. Me Talk Pretty One Day. London: Abacus Books, 2000.
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