Closed Reading: Language, Syntax, Imagery.

http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2006/02/27/060227sh_shouts

This is a funny article about the author and his family as they attempt to become art experts. I really love the way Sedaris uses techniques to describe and illustrate his families brief obsession with art. He also uses the sames techniques to compare his families experience to his own and show how they differ.
         The first thing Sedaris does to really illustrate his piece is use imagery to vividly describe settings and objects. He uses it particulary well when talking about specific pieces of art. The vivid imagery helps us to be able to clearly understand a piece of art and its oftentimes absurd location in his parents house hold.
          Sedaris also makes great use of syntax as a tool in his writing. In this piece, he uses it to convey a sense of thought process and to show his opinion of his families art collection. It seems to me that Sedaris primarily uses longer more detail packed sentences which i feel conveys a sort of flowing nature similar to his thought process.
            Language is another technique Sedaris uses well.  Throughout the whole article, Sedaris throws around artistic names and terms which indicate he has a competent understanding of art. Combining this artsy language with his description of his families hobby sets up a nice contrast between him and his family and his knowledge versus their lack of knowledge. By using this sort of language, It adds a humorous element to the piece and makes it a great deal more amusing.
               As a whole, i really enjoyed reading this piece and i found it very clever and well written. I have decided that i may be analyzing a whole lot more of David Sedaris's work as we do more closed reading blogs.