One Writer's Beginnings By Eudora Welty Rhetorical Devices

In this passage, Welty compared the librarian to witches and dragons. She wrote “I never knew anyone who’d grown up in Jackson without being afraid of Mrs. Calloway.” The only person that was brave enough to face the librarian, besides her mother, was Welty herself. After she went on to write about how she still went to the library and was willing to do anything to read, even if it meant facing the terrifying librarian, the audience is able to

Welty begins her autobiography with a flashback of Mrs. Calloway, her childhood librarian. Welty described her as an independent and strict woman. She also describes her as a “witch.” “She took me in to introduce me and I saw I had met a witch.” Mrs. Calloway was a fearful woman who took her job as a librarian very seriously. She had a policy that stated that a person could only check out two books at a time. This limited Welty to, which made her yearn for more books. Therefore, she would quickly read the books so that she could get more and enrich her mind.

She does not understand why the older and well-known authors are not being read in high school. Prose uses a personal experience from her son’s sophomore English class. He had to read a “weeper and former bestseller by Judith Guest” (424), about a dysfunctional family dealing with a teenage son’s suicide attempt. “No instructor has ever asked my sons to read Alice Munro, who writes so lucidly and beautifully about the hypersensitivity that makes adolescence a hell,”(424). She again mentions books she approves of that should be read in English classes.

Contemporary civilisation places immense significance upon writings that stimulate the human psyche. Weldon extrapolates upon this notion through her epistolary work Letters to Alice. The author imbues the audience with the extended metaphorical image of the “City on Invention”. This developed and intricate allegory facilitates comprehension regarding the depth of literary matter. Such complexity is explicated by the alliteration of “mind meeting mind” coupled with the sarcastic “It’s getting crowded”. The City exists as a metaphysical realm negligent of boundaries, thus exemplifying the human mind and appetite for growth. However, Weldon makes tantamount didactic statements that transcend metaphorical allusion and convey explicit points. The high modality language of “no one burns Emma” is symbolic of humanity and its inherent need to preserve and learn about the foundations of its society. Furthermore, Weldon employs a mocking tonality in “real history” to reveal her didactic perspective pertaining to literature, furthered by the authorial intrusion of “you must read”. Weldon re-enforces the relevance of literal compositions, outlining the dire need for its prevalence in society. By observing the past through an inscribed lens, humanity progresses. The written word acts as an artefact through which contemporary society may learn to better themselves by considering the nature of each

The occasion of the story is a crucial advice about critical reading: one has to “read between the lines” to fully understand an idea. According to the speaker, he not only wants the readers to “read between the lines” but also to write between the lines to effectively enhance one’s critical reading skills. The speaker encourages readers to take notes inside a book to fully retain one’s knowledge about the book and make it a

Willis, in this statement, was thereby addressing the hopes and beliefs of Americans of the early 19th century, who did hold the conviction that an American child of this new generation was destined for a uniquely promising   future, and that this required a new juvenile literature designed expressly for that child. Fiction there might be, but not light fiction; no, it was to be instructive and improving, to aid the parent in the moral development of the child. For the parent, not the school or even the church, was to be the major force in developing the child’s highest potential, and of the two parents, the mother was thought to be supremely qualified to inculcate, to influence, to teach by example.

Marian Evans Lewes responds to the admiring letter of aspiring author, Melusina Fay Peirce through an admonishing tone as she discusses the development of an author and its adversity as Lewes recognizes her own role as an influence on Peirce and feels an obligation to exemplify the tribulations of writing. Lewes portrays how the development of a writer augments their decay of enthusiasm in an attempt to dissuade a hopeful writer from expecting complete exultation as she fluctuates the anticipation of the reader while introducing an emotional appeal.

In “One Writer’s Beginnings,” author Eudora Welty conveys intensity and value in her experiences by using hyperbole and phrasing. She conveys intensity using hyperbole by making small details seem “out of this world.” An example of this can be seen in the first 2 lines, “I never knew anyone who’d grew up in Jackson without being afraid of Mrs. Calloway.” Right from the beginning Welty grabs the reader’s attention. Another example of hyperbole happens when Welty describes her regular voice as “commanding.” She even goes on to say, “I saw I had met a witch,” when describing her first time introducing themselves to each other. Another tool used to achieve intensity is phrasing.

The nostalgic tone Welty uses to list the books she has read causes the reader to associate books with a kind of warm comfort by her use of phrases such as "she'd read to me...when we were in her rocker together" and "in the diningroom on winter afternoons in front of the coal fire". The length of the lists also allows the reader to grasp the fact that Welty has been able to enjoy an enormous amount of books on various subjects, including "fairy tales-Grimm, Anderson...Robin Hood...a whack of Pilgrim's Progress and a long piece of Gulliver" and "the Columbia Encyclopedia, Compton's Pictured Encyclopedia, the Lincoln Library of Information, and later the Book of Knowledge". Furthermore, the lists give the reader the impression that there are

In the autobiography "One Writer's Beginnings" by Eudora Welty, Welty reminisces on past experiences and writes vividly about them. The autobiography tells about Welty's life story and expresses how high of a value she places on these experiences. This essay will show how the language used in the autobiography conveys the intensity and value placed on the experiences. Welty's diction in her autobiography is informed and it connects to readers on a common level. In her autobiography she informs readers of her childhood experiences with Mrs. Calloway.

Welty was born on April 13th, 1909 in Jackson Mississippi to Christian and Chestina Welty. She grew up with two brothers and parents who strongly encouraged reading and writing. At the age of seven, Welty was diagnosed with a heart condition. During that time she was bedridden and spent a lot of time reading her favorite authors, such as The Brothers Grimm, Mark Twain, and many others. She described her childhood and family to be happy, bookish, and close-knit. Her earliest memories were of her parents reading to her.

While confronting Calloway, Mrs.Welty gives Eudora the freedom of selecting any adult book except Elsie Dinsmore because Eudora would be “too impressionable.” Mrs.Welty concludes Eudora will be easily influenced and “fall off the piano stool” just like in the book. Mrs. Welty is afraid Eudora would have the traits of Elsie and collapse from pressure. During Eudora’s childhood, Mrs. Welty would read books any time she could. Reading a book while getting Eudora’s “hair [getting] dry enough to unroll” displays Mrs.Welty’s passion for books, having impact on her daughter’s view of passion on books as well.

Eudora Welty's nostalgic tone describes her childhood ambition of reading with her phrases such as "I cannot remember a time when I was not in love with them- with the books themselves," and also "... I was ready for them, committed to all the reading I could give them." Furthermore, Welty includes the statements in order to emphasize her "sensory education". When referring to this idea of "sensory education" Welty is explaining that she is able to associate a word with a moment in time. For example Welty expresses a memory she has where the word "moon" comes to her and the meaning of the word changes. No longer is the moon "flat" but now she sees the round "globe" that the moon truly is. Other examples included by Welty are when she describes

Francie, while strolling her neighborhood for the last time with Laurie, arrives at the library- the library that had defined her as a child and that held all her hopes for the future. However, now as she reflects on everything this building was, she understands that life is so capable of altering her perspective on things. Or, more so, that the exposure to reality and growing up could take away that childlike paradise of the world. For, in the beginning of the novel, Francie was so idealistic; she believed the library was this heaven to digest and that “all the books in the world were” within it (22). Though, as she leads herself to mold into an adult and endures those responsibilities from just the age of fifteen, she starts to realize that

Welty's use of sensory education portrays a nostalgic memory; her definition of sensory education includes her family's seemingly endless "library". As a child, Welty loved reading; her parents read to her until she became literate enough to read on her own. Welty believes books can transport the reader to different worlds and bring the author's and reader's imagination to life; thus creating Welty's vision of sensory education. Reading uses all of the senses; a reader must visualize the world the author sets her/him in.¬¬¬¬ When a reader immerses himself/herself in a great novel, he/she is captured in a whole other universe created by the author; the reader pictures the sounds of a wolf’s cry, smells the baker’s fresh, warm bread, tastes the