Four Paged Literacy Analysis Paper Of The Play Jesus Saves By Sedaris (Essay Sample)

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Literacy Analysis of Jesus Shaves
The story Jesus Saves by Sedaris happens during a French lesson whose topic was on holiday discussions. The teacher asks the event that occurred at Easter and one student of Moroccan origin claims not to have heard of any celebration relating to Christmas. The class discussion continued and the class tried to explain what they knew about Easter using broken French language. The author uses 1st person narration taking a character role of a student of American origin. Sedaris elaborates the shared traditions and religion by the students in a classroom setting. He narrates what he hears using the class narration in form of English conversation in broken dialogue. A cluster of cultural beliefs and language grammar are instrumental in telling the story. Language, food and traditional events driven by faith are instrumental in explaining the diverse societal and cultural norms.
The French teacher and the narrator are the main characters however other characters become visible in the backgrounds where they play some distinct roles. The narrator tries to create an understanding among the supposed to be American readers that other students from other cultures do not either understand or value their traditions and cultural norms. This is evident in the character played by students from Italian, Moroccan and Polish origin. The author expect readers from European, American or Christian origin to however understand such Easter traditions and their significance. To them Easter represents the Resurrection of Jesus. The Moroccan student has never heard before about Easter and those students who are aware of it try explaining using their own experiences. The story also claims that the Moroccan women had never heard of Easter. The student from Poland explains the crucifixion process and the others try elaborating the personality of Jesus (Sedaris 428).
Traditions and cultural norms are remembered in the society by way of celebration which can be in form of songs and dances, competitions, unique attires being worn and even feasts are organized. Traditional events and cultural norms are unique to particular cultures or religions and are remembered at a particular time of the year. Student from Italian origin brings to light the tradition of eating some foods. The narrator then brings to the class debate on Easter bunnies and flying the Easter Bell (pg. 428). To the students unaware of Eastern, the happenings and events related to it remains strange and a mystery to them. The author understands this and utilizes his own understanding of the different traditions to explain the students such traditions and cultures. Some traditions are unique and only practiced among specific cultures. The narrator explains this by the tradition whereby some individuals eat lamp on Easter while other do not.
The story told in humorous narration and often some of the broken language and by extension some omissions makes the story interesting. The title for instance is a creation in the story whereby unique traditions are told in for of humor. Characterization in the story is chosen carefully to make the narrative well represented in terms of the different cultures in existence. The character language is presented in English however the dialogue in the story takes place in poor French language. The absence of words in evident in the failure to find appropriate words to describe Easter which is abstract. The Polish description on how Jesus was crucified is a basic evidence of the lag in language (pg. 427). The description is difficult to comprehend by a person of another culture who is unaware of the story of Easter.
The classroom is used an object were diverse cultures can interact together and exchange some of their traditions. Lack of fluency in a common language of communication limits such interactions and often is a setback to what a classroom is supposed to be and its role as a place of learning. The students in the French class were all from diverse background and their cultures were different. Most of them were not fluent in the French language. Common knowledge is instrumental in the passage of traditions and cultural norms to other people and from one generation to the other. The Eastern celebration is commemorated by celebration and sharing of crucial history about the events leading to it. The individual student’s knowledge is used in explaining Easter to the Moroccan. The language barrier however limits the learning process and doesn’t help much the Moroccan student (pg. 429). The efforts to describe such c...