Courage And Fearlessness In Annie Dillard's An American Childhood

In Annie Dillard's excerpt from her autobiography, "An American Childhood", she portrays not only the exact moment when every child experiences undulated joy, but also the understanding that they may never have this feeling again. She begins with an explanation of the "fine" (16) sport of football to convey the importance of courage and fearlessness. She states that "if you fl[ing] yourself wholeheartedly" (16) into this sport then "nothing girls [do can] compare with it" (17). Since she could not play football or her other love, baseball, in winter there was the allure of throwing snowballs at cars which were "targets all but wrapped in red ribbons, cream puffs" (17). Reynolds Street is the setting in which the neighborhood kids go "looking