Coming Of Age Analysis

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Coming of Age in Mississippi and An American Childhood are books focused around the lives of two women growing up in America in their respective time periods. Coming of Age in Mississippi was written by Anne Moody, who grew up in Mississippi during the Civil Rights Movement, and An American Childhood was written by Annie Dillard, who grew up in Pittsburgh around the same time as Moody. Moody’s book provided a detailed retelling of her “coming of age,” as she fought for both African American and women’s rights. She described the suffering and triumphs she encountered throughout her childhood and young adult life. An American Childhood was composed of multiple short stories about Dillard’s childhood throughout the 1950s. Rather than facing the …show more content…
Similes were used to display Dillard’s childlike imagination when she was young, but as the book progressed, the diction became more complex to symbolize her coming of age. Dillard recounted a time when she was pulling at her mother’s sagging skin, in contrast to her young, tight skin. She described the memory with multiple similes: “…like slats in a Venetian blind…sharp as swords…swing this like a baby in a sling…” (Dillard 26). The reader could easily picture a child having those thoughts and developed an innocent sense of relief in knowing that Dillard was a child who did. However, as the book progressed, the playful tone faded, and a more mature tone emerged. Dillard began to describe her experiences with words like “depilated” (Dillard 215), “scantily” (Dillard 216), “imperceptibly” (Dillard 222), and “transmogrify” (Dillard 223). Her change in descriptive choice took place gradually throughout the book; this symbolized her maturation and entrance into adulthood, leaving the majority of her playful nature …show more content…
Moody was successful in relaying the truths of Mississippi in the 1940s-1960s. Moody wrote with detail and dialogue to establish logos and anecdotes and syntax to develop pathos. Dillard provided a detailed recounting of what it was like to grow up in the city of Pittsburgh in the 1950s. She was successful in relaying her childhood to the reader, and was able to share the lessons she learned as she matured. In doing so, she used logos, and pathos to persuade her readers about her childhood and coming of age. Her effective use of figurative language emphasized and supported the rhetoric of her piece. She used vivid descriptions to build logos and similes and complex diction built pathos. While Moody and Dillard established logos similarly, they did not use the same methods to exhibit pathos in their
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