An American Childhood

"Waking Up to the Reality of a Personally Fulfilling Future" Throughout Dillard's, An American Childhood, she describes the distinct gender roles of men and those of women in the 1950's. Dillard tells us of the explicitly different duties and responsibilities men and women had. The influence which society, specifically adults, has on Annie is extremely powerful and ultimately acts as a guiding light into her future. This influence eventually drives her to desire knowledge about …showed first 75 words of 1479 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1479 total…the smallest cracks and the widest space between stars." (107). Knowledge and personal liberation come from stepping outside of one's comfortable boundaries and questioning the unquestioned. Boundaries only limit possible discoveries and new understandings. Annie detaches herself from society's expectations of the female gender through daring to venture outside society's boundaries. Knowledge can expand, like air, and suffocate ignorance, and Annie's growing process of questioning, realizing, and finally understanding, is a mirror image of precisely this.