One Writer's Beginnings By Eudora Welty

487 Words2 Pages

In her autobiography, One Writer’s Beginnings, Eudora Welty illustrates how early memories of reading and books later inspired her to become a fiction writer. She uses intense diction, hyperbole, quotes, examples, and compare and contrast to support her purpose. She speaks in a reminiscent tone to a general audience. Welty narrates her love for literature and acknowledges the individuals that impacted her, ultimately conveying the intensity and value of these experiences. In the first paragraph, Welty describes the librarian, Mrs. Calloway. By using words such as “commanding” and “streaming”, she makes the librarian seem very stern and strict. She also portrays Mrs. Calloway as having “strong eyes” and a “dragon eye”. Welty uses this strong diction to create an intense setting of the library. We can infer from her word choice that she was somewhat scared of Mrs. Calloway. Knowing that Welty is recalling vivid information from when she was young reveals how intense she must have felt being in the library. Also, it shows that even though Welty was scared of the librarian, it didn’t stop her from continuing to come back. Her love of reading allowed her to overcome her fear. …show more content…

Her hyperbole, “I would do anything to read”, emphasizes how far she would go to read. Mrs. Calloway had certain rules for her library, including dress code and limit to the number of book you could check out at one time. The fact that she was willing to abide by these rules proves that reading is her top priority. This intense passion proved to be valuable because of her career in writing. She goes on to give examples in the fourth paragraph of books that she had read including “Bunny Brown” and “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”. By doing this, the readers are given a sample of the books Welty would check out and then go “devouring” into. Again, this reflects her hunger and intensity for