American Childhood Essay An American Childhood is an essay by Annie Dillard. In the beginning of An American Childhood, Dillard uses football to emphasize the importance of dependability, confidence, courage, and concentration. Dillard also talks about how not only did the boys welcome her to football, but they also welcomed her to baseball.Through those sports she became well acquainted with those boys, who all older than she is. Dillard was seven years old; the boys were ten, nine, and eight. In the winter there wasn’t any basketball or football. So during this time period, they played in the snow and threw snowballs at passing cars. It was a weekday morning after Christmas and six inches of snow had just fallen. Like any other winter day, they were throwing snowballs at the cars that…show more content… They spotted a black Buick coming down the street. As soon as the car was in their line of sight, they all pelted it with snowballs. Most cars just ignore the children’s antics, but this man stopped his car then he got out and started chasing after them. The children split up and decided to all go their own direction, instead of getting caught all together. Dillard ended up running with her friend Mikey and the man coincidently chose to chase after them. After a very tedious and exhausting chase, he finally caught both of them by their jackets. Dillard was fascinated by his passion and dedication throughout the chase. Like any other adult would, Dillard expected the man to give up way earlier. As Dillard gets older she reflects on this event because she said “I would have died happy, for nothing has required so much of me since being chased all over Pittsburg in the middle of winter—running terrified, exhausted—by this sainted, skinny, furious redhead man who
