2006: Travel, Absurdity, and Quiet Observation

⚠️ Spoiler Warning: This guide contains detailed spoilers for the entire novel. Proceed only if you've finished reading or are comfortable knowing the plot.

Summary

The 2006 chapter follows David Sedaris through a year of routine travel, family interactions, and chance encounters. The year opens with a tense shoe-shopping trip in Paris. Sedaris tours the United States to promote his work, meeting a parade of eccentric readers: a man who published a book about fisting, a woman whose father ate her placenta, and a bone‑marrow donor. He visits a dermatologist in New York and receives an unsolicited laser peel. In the Philippines, he confronts stark poverty and bizarre malls. His father, Don Sedaris, shows signs of cognitive decline, while Hugh copes with a dog bite in Paris. The chapter ends with Sedaris preparing to quit smoking and study Japanese, framing Japan as a kind of rehab center.

Key Events

January 27 – Paris: Sedaris and Hugh shop for dress shoes. The saleswoman is rude, corrects Sedaris’s French, and makes him wait.
March 17 – Paris: Student protests escalate; a car is nearly overturned outside Sedaris’s window until a neighbor throws water on the rioters.
March 28 – New York: Sedaris visits a dermatologist with his sister Amy. He receives a laser skin peel and is asked to tip the technician.
March 30 – Philadelphia: At a signing, a bald man whispers that his new book is about fisting.
April 3 – Syracuse: In an airport fast‑food restaurant, a customer berates an Indian cashier for not explaining topping charges.
April 18 – Wichita: Sedaris listens to Christian radio, noting how callers discuss tithing and submission while the host confuses “Algiers” with “Algerians.”
April 20 – Fargo: A woman tells Sedaris she tried to revive her cat with a blow‑dryer. A man describes a vandal who defecated in campus air ducts.
April 29 – San Francisco: Sedaris meets a gregarious van driver who freely insults his wife and his female passengers.
May 5 – Boston: Sedaris visits Helping Hands, a monkey‑training center, and feeds capuchins that assist quadriplegics.
May 7 – Florida: Paul Sedaris tricks their father by saying Amy appeared topless in Playboy.
July 25 – Hong Kong: Sedaris is solicited by three prostitutes in one evening and repeatedly tells them he is homosexual.
July 26 – Manila: Sedaris visits Greenbelt Mall, the decaying Makati Cinema Square (with gun shops and a ballet school), and the Hobbit House, staffed entirely by dwarves.
August 16 – La Bagotière: A phone call with Don Sedaris reveals his worsening aphasia: he cannot remember the word “rain.”
December 4–17 – Paris: A drunk woman repeatedly calls Sedaris, unable to remember his book’s title. Hugh is bitten by an off‑leash Jack Russell terrier; the owner offers no apology.
December 28 – Paris: Sedaris resolves to quit smoking and intensifies his Japanese study before a trip to Tokyo.

Character Development

David Sedaris remains an observant, self‑deprecating narrator. He reflects on his own absurd reactions (tipping for an unwanted procedure, lying about a typewriter). His patience is tested by rude strangers, but he rarely confronts them directly.
Hugh appears as a calm, practical partner. He handles the dog bite with restraint, and his father helps chase a mouse, revealing a family dynamic of mild exasperation with Sedaris’s fussing.
Don Sedaris (David’s father) shows noticeable cognitive decline. He maintains an authoritative tone despite losing vocabulary, and his calls become increasingly nonsensical, adding a somber note to the chapter.
Amy Sedaris appears briefly as a supportive sibling, arranging appointments and offering witty advice.

Themes, Symbols, or Motifs

Rudeness and Power: The shoe saleswoman, the airport customer, and the dog owner all exercise small cruelties. Sedaris observes how power in retail, language, or public space is wielded arbitrarily.
Cultural Juxtaposition: Sedaris contrasts the luxury of the Hong Kong Peninsula hotel with the poverty of Manila’s shantytowns. The decaying Makati Cinema Square—with Uzis next to ballet tutus—symbolizes a world where incongruity is the norm.
Mortality and Decline: The dying father of Tim (the driver), the bone‑marrow donor, and Don’s aphasia all touch on aging and illness. Sedaris’s own preparation to quit smoking suggests a desire to control his health.
Absurd Everyday Encounters: The book about fisting, the cat revival attempt, and the man who ate his daughters’ placentas all exhibit the bizarre humanity Sedaris attracts.

Why This Chapter Matters

The 2006 chapter marks a transition in A Carnival of Snackery. Sedaris’s father’s cognitive decline introduces a more melancholic tone, while the extended Philippines sequence deepens the book’s engagement with global inequality. The chapter’s final resolution to quit smoking and study Japanese also signals a rare personal commitment—a move toward change that the narrator acknowledges will be difficult. Together, these entries balance the collection’s characteristic humor with a growing awareness of life’s fragility.

Study Questions

How does Sedaris use the shoe‑store encounter to comment on language and power?
The saleswoman corrects Sedaris’s French and later switches to English, which he perceives as the “biggest insult.” The incident shows that language can be a tool for domination—the woman asserts authority over a customer by controlling communication, and Sedaris feels doubly belittled.
What does the Makati Cinema Square sequence reveal about Sedaris’s critique of consumer culture?
He describes the mall as having “cancer,” with empty shops, gun displays next to ballet schools, and a bingo parlor he calls a “malignant tumor.” The scene illustrates how unregulated capitalism in Manila produces bizarre, joyless spaces that exploit the poor, contrasting sharply with the sterile luxury of Western hotels.
Why does Sedaris include the phone calls with his father, Don, at this point in the diary?
The calls show Don’s decline in real time—he replaces concrete words with vague phrases, yet retains an authoritative tone. By placing these entries among travel anecdotes, Sedaris underscores that even as he jets around the world, his father’s deterioration forms a quiet, constant background worry.