A Shiner Like a Diamond
In "A Shiner Like a Diamond" David Sedaris satirically portrays the dysfunctional relationship between his father and his sister Amy. Throughout Amy's life her father relentlessly monitors her physical appearance with the "intensity of a pimp" (26); he believes that a woman's physical beauty is her greatest asset. Amy is naturally a strong independent woman and in response to her father's "vigilance and pressure" (26) she decides not to be angry with her father, but simply to get even. Her methods of getting even focus on her weight and physical appearance; Amy is naturally beautiful and she pretends to have gained weight and wears make-up to appear as a battered woman in a magazine photo shoot. Amy also subjects her father to practical jokes attempting to make him look like a fool. Sedaris uses irony and sarcasm throughout this dark essay; Amy emerges as a complex and obscure character who endlessly manipulates her well-meaning father, thus the reader sympathizes greatly with him and not with her.Amy's father had always placed a great deal of importance on the physical beauty of his daughters; however, his sons were "free to grow as ugly and plump as [they] liked (26). Being a traditional man, the father believed that
. . .
Some common words found in the essay are:
Penny Midland, Jesus Flossie, Throughout Amy's, Porsche God's, Guiding Light, David Sedaris, father reader, allowing reader, sedaris satirically portrays, reader sympathize father, father reader sympathizes, physical beauty, relationship amy father, refrigerator door, reader sympathizes, father believed, gained weight, harsh words, amy naturally, family friend,
Approximate Word count = 1024
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
|
