An Analysis Of Mrs. Calloway's Essay

Many foods can be considered a delicacy, yes, but for some people, like Eudora Welty, the passion and insatiability can come through the stain of ink on pages. The passage from her autobiography, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty recalls early memories of reading and books that later had an impact on her work as a writer of fiction. Welty’s language, the use of diction, metaphors, vivid imagery, and her characterization of Mrs. Calloway, her mother, and her own passion for literature reveal the intensity and value of these experiences to her. Welty’s use of language in the excerpt discussing the local librarian Mrs. Calloway reveal the importance of her and influence she had on the her future writing career. Welty describes Mrs. Calloway

In the first two paragraphs of the excerpt Welty talks about Mrs. Calloway’s strict and somewhat unconventional library rules. She says she “was willing” to obey her rules which shows her commitment to keep reading, and then she goes on to directly state she “would do anything to read,” which just goes to proves her desire even further. In the fourth paragraph Welty talks about how she would read every book she seized. She writes “taste isn’t nearly so important…[she] wanted to read immediately.” She uses “taste” to refer to the different genres of literature and communicates that she doesn’t really care for the type of book, all she wants is to read, and this reveals her intense love for reading. Going a little further in the excerpt, Welty writes that her “only fear was that of books coming to an end.” Saying one’s only fear is when a book’s almost over shows a lot about that person. It depicts Welty as a strong person, yet also as someone so fixated on reading that she develops the irrational fear of books coming to an end. This truly shows her furious love for reading and