Laugh, Kookaburra

          In David Sedaris's essay, "Laugh, Kookaburra," he shows us his experience of a vacation with his friend Hugh and reveals his feelings between him and his dad. He encounters an Australian bird called the Kookaburra. When Sedaris meets this bird he looks back on some of the memories of his relationship with his father. Sedaris goes into great detail about his experience as a youngster and shows this through his experiences toward the bird. In David Searis's essay "Laugh, Kookaburra," Sedaris shows that experiences through ones childhood can lead to flashbacks of that specific moment, causing one to relish on the past, and come to realize who he actually is.

         David Sedaris's essay "Laugh, Kookaburra" starts off by showing the readers a fight between his father and him. His father claims that David has not really seen Australia, only some of the major cities in it. David then tells us that this is false and that he has seen Australia. David's dad is extremely mad at the fact that his son is gay and David's dad does not want his son to be hurt by the world because of his sexuality. This shows me one of the themes in this essay which is his relationship with his family. He has been known to be the odd one by his family members.  David can still be successful even without his family supporting him. Sedaris meets a lady named Pat who they encountered when they were both in Paris. Pat had lived most her life in Australia so she offered to take the two of them on a tour through the countryside. As they are traveling through "the bush," Pat asks the two to visualize a four burner stove. The four burners were family, friends, health, and work. pat said to them that in order to be successful you need to cut off two of these burners. Later on the trip the three go out to lunch and Davis sees a Kookaburra through the window of the restaurant. He then looks back to his childhood and realizes that he had turned off one of the burners in his life, which was family. David asks the employees more about the Kookaburra and one of the employees comes out with a slab of meat on a plate and David then goes on to help feed the Kookaburra.  The Kookaburra slammed the meat against the wooden platform which caused David to think about hearing the word Kookaburra in his fifth grade music class.  This is important because it is when he remembered a certain bad moment in his life when his father barged in and yelled at him for singing, portraying David's father's anger towards him. 
          Another theme David Sedaris shows is the four burners. He clearly states that he turned off one of the burners which was family. This is stated so that the reader can become successful in life and live a well balanced life. However in my opinion, I believe the way to a successful life is to have all four of the burners on and running. One may think that having family turned off is not as bad right now, but along the road family should be my number one priority so that they can help you through good times and bad times. I think that friends will come and go and if you find good quality friends then they will help guide you to a successful life and help determine what is best for you. Work is what keeps people going through life. Without work we would get off track and become unsuccessful. Also, work provides food and clothing which are the necessities in life which we need to survive. Health is what keeps me living. Without good health I can see myself on the verge of death. I believe health is the most important thing. As long as I have air in my lungs I can strive for greatness in life.

        My opinion of David Sedaris's essay would be pretty great because of the detail he puts into his writing. He keeps my attention by going back and forth between his vacation and when he is a child. I love the dialogue in this essay because that makes us really know what is going on and how the personalities of the characters are. I myself can kind of relate to this essay in a way because I recall singing songs in my classes and find myself in years down the road singing them because of seeing something that reminded me of them. I can also relate to this story in the fact that even though me and my dad have a close relationship but do argue quite a bit. He is always telling me what is right and what is wrong and then we start arguing because I feel the opposite way. Kind of like David and his father. For instance my dad wanted me to stay home for spring break my senior year and I obviously disagreed because it would be a once in a lifetime opportunity. After a while though we finally came to a compromise and we both went on spring break together. Although I can only relate to the essay in that matter I do not relate to this story because I do not have a father that is angry at me for little stuff like singing in the late night. My father is behind me 100 percent and encourages me to be myself. And if that is singing then that is fine to him as long as i put all my effort into it.