Two Authors: same struggle In the short stories, “On Stuttering,” by Edward Hoagland, and “Me Talk Pretty,” by David Sedaris, the authors discuss how they dealt with their speech impediments. They wrote about the way they handled their difficulties with speech, the different strategies they used, and how their limitations affected how they felt about themselves. Although the two author’s handicaps were not identical, they both used similar approaches to overcome them. After 60 years of stuttering, Hoagland reminisces about his struggles and triumphs to overcome his stuttering. While attending school, he learned that, “Life can become a matter of measuring the importance of anything you have to say.” He felt that it was
He becomes determined to create an identity for himself. He studies harder and puts in more time when he writes essays. After completing a sentence exercise, his self-confidence is destroyed and his fear has gone beyond the classroom. Sedaris no longer wishes to stop for coffee, ask for directions or even go to the bank in fear he would have to engage in conversation. If the phone rang, he would just not answer it. When someone asks him a question he pretends to be deaf. On day in the hallway, Sedaris and his fellow students were engaged in a conversation. Sedaris refers to it as a “conversation commonly overheard in a refugee camp.” As the students try to offer comfort to each other, one student tells another student that with much work someday they will talk pretty. It was hard to believe that any of them would ever get better. One day the teacher compared spending a day with Sedaris to having a cesarean section. It was at this time he realized that he could understand every word. He still was not able to fluently speak the language, but he knew that this was the first step. After some time, Sedaris also comes to the conclusion that he not being able to speak fluently is not so serious and that over time he has been able to overcome his fears of speaking out and actually starts to understand the language. Both Hoagland and Sedaris struggled