Eudora Welty

In the autobiography “One Writerś Beginnings”by Eudora Welty conveys the intensity and value of the early childhood experiences through her language and style of the excerpt. Welty´s childhood experiences allows the audience to be informed on how this impacts her writing as a writer. She accomplishes this thought throughout her autobiography through the usage of imagery, anecdotes, and diction. Throughout Welty’s autobiography she uses many examples of imagery that create nostalgic feelings and exemplifies the innocence of young Welty and her childhood, but yet also helps depict the frightening librarian through her readers minds. In line sixteen through seventeen she states that if the librarian, Mrs.Calloway, could “see through your skirt”
she would send you right back home, allows the readers a brief glimpse of morality and the lifestyle during her childhood. In addition to this, in lines sixty-seven to sixty-nine she explains how her mother would read “ the new issue of Time magazine” while playing the role of the Wolf in the game “Little Red Riding Hood” also adds to their lifestyle and culture during this time period. Welty also states that after “every book” she “seized on” some examples of books she had read such as “Thousand Leagues Under the Sea”and the usage of her proper nouns such as “Elsie Dinsmore” exemplifies her credibility as a reader due to the knowledge she has about many books and authors. Alongside the usage of imagery, the usage of the anecdote of a specific childhood memory adds to Welty’s persona. At the very beginning of Welty’s autobiography, the use of first person with the word “I” establishes first hand experience,closeness, and allows for a deeper effect readers have with her. with her readers. In addition, in line thirty-nine to forty-one she uses the word “you” to bring the reader into the anecdote and later allows the readers to gain knowledge that her mother is her role model. In line seventy- two through seventy-three she ends her anecdote with how her mom would multitask and read while playing with her children that adds verification of how the time period was during a war period and how this influenced her lifestyle, and obsession of reading books. Welty’s usage of diction throughout her excerpt adds to the innocents of her as a child, and her desire of constantly reading books.
The use of diction in line nine when she says, “her normally commanding voice” allows the reader to understand more of Mrs.Calloway, the librarian, which later adds to the reader's knowledge that the librarian is the antagonist in the anecdote and opens Welty’s eyes to add the her persona. In addition to the use of the word “commanding”, the word “devouring” in line fifty exemplifies the desire and how deeply Welty wanted to read when she was a child. She also uses the word “insatiability” to showcase how she could not get enough of reading, and that it was something the she was very passionate about. To conclude, this autobiography by Eudora Welty helps conveys how the intensity and value of the early childhood experiences through her language and style helped impact her writing as a writer. The usage of imagery, anecdotes, and diction helps create nostalgic feelings and exemplifies the innocence of young Welty, her childhood, and helps show how cultural surroundings influenced her obsession of reading books. In addition to this, it helps build Welty as person, credibility, and ability to draw her readers into her childhood as if they were
there.