Growing Up In Pittsburgh In The 1950's

An American Childhood, is a poignant, vivid memoir of the author’s experiences growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1950’s. Dillard’s primary focus in her memoir was to describe specifically the events of her childhood which revealed each facet of her developing personality and character as she transitioned from a confused child, to a rebellious teenager. Growing up, Annie was adventurous, imaginative and curious; constantly venturing into some new, exciting activity. Although immature at times, she was also quite reflective and intelligent- often analyzing the occurrences in her life in tremendous depth. One period in Annie’s life, back in 1950, when she was five was particularly interesting. She explains that those years around the 1950’s were

spent largely in silence as people were busy trying to restart their lives following the end of World War II. During that time mothers and children generally spent their days at home in silence; while fathers rushed to find work- desperate to provide for their families. Although young, Annie was extremely reflective, and she characterizes this post-war period as a transition in and out of consciousness with the world around her.

This is evident at the end of the chapter when Annie describes, “I surfaced once again and saw: it was winter now, winter again...I was here outside in the dimming day’s snow, alive.” (pg. 19) As Annie ages, the focus of An American Child shifts toward the angst-filled years of her adolescence. When Annie turned sixteen, the world, which had begun slipping away from her already, fell completely into the abyss. She explains, “When I was fifteen, I felt it coming; now I was sixteen, and it hit.”(pg.222) Annie found herself constantly filled with anger and often took it out, quite naturally, on her family- particularly her innocent parents. When angry, Annie felt as if she wanted to kill someone or bomb something big. Sometimes the anger would be so intense that in an attempt to appease and calm herself, she would whip her bed in her room with her uniform belt. As Annie realized the darkness she was sliding into, she began to fear that perhaps this was the natural course of things, and that her excitement with the world was merely childhood foolishness which she could never

recover. It is evident through the vivid and passionate description of the events that compose her childhood, that Annie Dillard, author of An American Child, indeed fulfills the criteria of Faulkner’s writer’s duty. Aside from incorporating raw emotion, and successfully describing the vigor and joy within a childhood, Dillard particularly fulfills the “compassion”, “love”, and “honor” verities (of the writer’s duty).