Have you ever wondered what life was like for a writer growing up? The passage from Welty's autobiography "On Writers Beginnings" shows the early experiences of reading and how books later impacted the life of writers like Welty. Welty uses imagery, diction, and alliteration to convey the intensity and value of her experiences of reading as a child.
Welty uses imagery to show how great these experiences impacted her life. Welty shows imagery when describing how she went into the library she saw big black letters in the library, that said silence but the librarian talked in her normal voice. Welty was showing how the how the librarian was in control. Welty also talks about how the librarian would watch the people come in the library and if you were a girl and she could see right through your skirt the librarian would send you right home. Welty paints vivid pictures of her experiences growing up through imagery. .
Vivid diction is also used in Weltys" passage. An example is in line 5, about how the librarian would watch the front door by saying " her dragon eye- and by saying " her strong eye- in line 15 when describing the librarian and how she watched the door of the library. Welty also uses specific words when she talks about her first being introduced to the librarian when she says, " I saw I had met a witch" in lines 24, showing how mean and evil the librarian was. In lines 10 she talks about how the librarian's voice could be heard above " a steady seething sound" from the librarian's fan. The diction that Welty uses creates an image in your mind of what it was like to be around the librarian at a young age.
Welty uses alliteration throughout the passage. An example is the word silence which was written everywhere in the library in " big black letters- on line 7. Welty does this to shows emphasis on the word silence. Alliteration was also used in Welty" passage when she talks about how many books she read.