Sedaris sets the scene by explaining
the "frustratingly mild" winters "in North Carolina", but
how one day, when he was in the fifth grade, snow fell "and, for the first
time in years, it accumulated". Excited to have school cancelled and see
more snow fall for the next few days, Sedaris and his siblings hung around the
house. Much, Sedaris found out, to his mother's dismay. The children had “disrupted the secret life she led while we
were at school" and their "mother had a little breakdown". She proceeded to kick them out into the cold
winter day. Something Sedaris considered less of a "request" and more
of an "eviction". Happy to be out in the snow, Sedaris and his
siblings proceeded to play in the snow, but eventually they tired of the
outdoors and attempted to return to the warmth and light of the interior. As they
came to their front door, they found it locked, and their mother inside having
a glass of wine in the afternoon. They tried knocking on the windows, but even
after noticing her children, their mother proceeded to simply take her drink to
another room of the house. The children found her in her bedroom and there
snowballs at the glass, but she still made no move except to pull the drapes
closed, leaving her family outside in the icy weather. The children cursed her
telling her she was "going to be in so much trouble when Dad gets
home!", but following some discussion, concluded their father would be of
no help the them. The kids finally established that the best way to gain their
parents attention would be for one of them to "get hit by a car".
After some deliberation as to whom the victim should be, the children turn to
the youngest of the family: Tiffany. Without fully understanding what she was
agreeing to, Tiffany goes to lie in the street. The first car to approach her
stops and asks the group what they are doing and they explain. Soon after, the
kids see their mother making the trek down their front lawn towards them.
Sedaris comments on how she does not own pants and the snow is up to her calves.
She looks "pity-full" and immediately the children feel a sense of
worry and love for their neglectful mother. The narrator sums up the events
with his mother by stating how "one moment she was locking us out of our
own house and the next we were rooting around in the snow, looking for her left
shoe."
What
are the lengths a child will go through to gain a parents attention? I feel as
though, aside from writing a playful anecdote about a snowstorm, this was the
question Sedaris toyed with in "Let it Snow". I, personally, have
never had any trouble with my mother wanting me around. That is, none that I
know of. But I can relate this essay to wanting to gain the attention of
someone else. As an acting major, it is almost our job to gain people's
attention. We will go to the greatest of physical and emotional lengths to
engage an audience for a few hours. Now, will we go as far to lie in the middle
of the road and hope a car hits us: I honestly don't know...? Sometimes, you
will have a great audience that wants nothing more that to see you and
participate in what you are bringing them with your performance. But other
times, the audience may be tired, unenthusiastic, or overall unhappy to be at
your show. The latter of these two instances is represented by Sedaris's
mother. She has no interest in being around or engaging in activity with her
children, she is sick of them. It is the children's job to gain her attention,
to get her to participate. Much like an actor must do with a stubborn audience.
In contrast to some of his other
essays, Sedaris used a larger percentage of dialogue in this particular piece.
Why was that? What impact was he hoping to make with this? I also found myself
most curious about the children’s father. Why did the children immediately
assume he would not help them as well? I enjoyed getting to know the authors
siblings and the way he interacted with them. How much did their feelings about
the events of this essay effect the way the story was told? Seeing as they were
going through the exact same occurrence as Sedaris was which often does not
happen in his narratives.
No comments:
Post a Comment