In “Me Talk Pretty One Day” by David Sedaris, the author spends the first part of the book describing his childhood years in North Carolina with his many brothers and sisters. He talks about how he had to take speech therapy, music lessons and art school. He spends the second part of the book talking about how he lives in France with his boyfriend and learns French day by day. Each time he goes, he learns a few more words and even enrolls in school to learn French fluently. The other book, by William Zinsser, called “On Writing Well,” explains how to write nonfiction. The author goes over all the different techniques needed to write non-fiction. For example, some of the topics he covers are writing style and clutter. Sedaris uses many of Zinsser's techniques, which makes his book more interesting. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essay Based on many of Zinsser's writings, "Me Talk Pretty One Day" was an effective book. An example of this is the chapter in which Zinsser discussed how a nonfiction novel should begin. He states that “the most important sentence in any article is the first. If it doesn't entice the reader to move on to the second sentence, your article is dead. Sedaris uses a hook to drag a reader into the first sentence to continue reading to the next and given that the entire book is made up of short stories, Sedaris manages to create this for each one. Each new chapter began discussing a new phase of the character's life and each began with a sentence that would inspire the reader to finish the chapter before putting the book down. One of the most memorable sentences Sedaris wrote to begin a chapter was “When Hugh was in fifth grade, his class took a field trip to the Ethiopian slaughterhouse. » This shows an example of how Sedaris draws the reader into the story. This sentence is not one you might usually find normal, which makes the reader want to know more about what really happened to Hugh and why this would be considered a normal class trip for fifth graders . These are some of the ways Sedaris follows some of Zinsser's advice in order to make the book more interesting. Throughout the book, Sedaris uses many rhetorical devices such as pathos. An example where he uses pathos is in the second part of the book, when he is at school learning French and is bullied by the teacher. He uses this as an opportunity in the book to make the reader feel sorry for him because he doesn't know how to speak French while the rest of the class does. In the book he states: "I absorbed as much of his abuse as I could understand", "The teacher began to put everyone down" and "My fear and discomfort crept beyond the boundaries of class.” In these quotes, Sedaris shows how much his teacher bullied him and his other classmates, and how much it hurt him to be there. He uses pathos in order to gain sympathy from the reader so that they feel bad for him while he is in class. He goes on to say that the teacher threw chalk at the students and that the other students were afraid that she might hit one of them sooner or later. Here's how Sedaris uses pathos in his writing to convey his experience at school with more empathy. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get an article now.