Review Of Annie Dillard's An American Childhood

In An American Childhood, Annie Dillard presents the story of a girl growing up during the mid-20th century in the Pennsylvania city of Pittsburg. The underlying theme prevalent throughout the selected portion of Dillard's book presents a memorable image of her mother, Pam. Dillard paints a picture of a woman who is a bit of a quirky individual in possession of quick intelligence, boldness and with an irrepressible sense of humor. Annie Dillard makes several claims about her mother, including that “the drama” of some words "stirred her” (242). As a result, she utilized them in unexpected ways, usually in capacities designed to be funny or challenging, but with the apparent goal of provoking a reaction out of another. In many instances it looked as if the author’s mother seemed to thrive on behaving in a most unusual and an unconventional style. Dillard also points out and claims that her mother, Pam, especially enjoyed when people understood her games of wordplay and pranks and "called her on it" (243). Furthermore, the

author states that "Mother's energy and intelligence suited her for a greater role in a larger arena" rather than the one she held of being a wife and a mother (Dillard 245). Pam retained strong views on politics, business and particularly esteemed those who showed fresh creativity. "Hers was a restless mental vigor that just about ignited the dumb household objects with its force" (Dillard 245). Additionally, Dillard claims that "torpid conformity was a kind of sin; it was stupidity itself, the mighty stream against which Mother would never cease to struggle" (246). Pam appeared to impress upon her family the need to challenge the commonly held views and "risk total ostracism" and that failing to do this would deem that "the world would be a better place without you" (Dillard 246). Annie Dillard makes the added claim that her mother "herself held many unpopular, even fantastic positions" (246). These views could and did incorporate opinions on the equality of the classes, McCarthyism and doubtless a plethora of other issues of that time period, and she did not hesitate to make these sentiments known whenever the opportunity presented itself.

It can be reasonably concluded that Annie saw her mother as influential to the formation of her own character, in her development of her love of words, her creativity and general appreciation for the uniqueness of her mother.

This would suggest that parents have a great deal of influence on their offspring in the course of their formative years, even those parents who may be a bit more unusual in some of their personality quirks or attitudes. Children tend to pick up on and mimic the traits of their mom or dad, both their negative and positive attributes. My own childhood was unconventional in some aspects, such as in the frequency with which we moved from place to place, much like American nomads in the latter part of the previous century. This would in itself have contributed to the evolution of my own character and subsequent behavior with my tendency to enjoy new places and experiences. It is certainly an interesting thought worth

consideration.

Work Cited

Muller, Gilbert H. The McGraw-Hill reader: issues across the disciplines. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2014. Print.