Calling Home :: Literary Analysis, Jean Brandt

In Calling Home, by jean Brandt and An American Childhood by Annie Dillard, both girls are confronted with their mavin of conscience and of safe and wrong. In the process, both girls experience memorable lessons as a force of the decisions they make. In Calling Home, thirteen year old Jean realizes that her actions non only affect her but more importantly, her loved ones, when she is caught steal and arrested during a Christmas shopping trip with her siblings and grandmother. In An American Childhood, vii year old Annie realizes that adults and their feelings are valid and that they can be vindicatory as vulnerable and full of tenacity as a sister after she and her friend find themselves universe chased by a man who is none too amused at being a target of their snowball throwing antics. In both stories, Annie and Jean are self-complacent in their sense of power and control. Both girls exhibit a world(a) lack of respect for authority by justifying their actions and displ aying a false sense of entitlement to pursue and attain whatever they wish, as if ordinary rules do not apply to them. Both girls actions are based on power and mention amongst their peers In Calling Home, the author explains Snoopy was the latest. If you owned anything with the Peanuts on it, you were in (19). When she steals the pin, Jean feels proud that shes outsmarted everybody and that what she has done has gone undetected. in one case confronted, Jeans false sense of security and disbelief is reflected in the following statements Where did this man come from? How did he know? I was so sure no one had seen meI couldnt believe what he was saying (Brandt 20). In An American Childhood, Annie is proud of her boys arm and of being the only girl accepted by a group of former(a) boys. She exudes confidence in participating with her friends. The author explains It was all or nothing...Your sine qua non and your teams score depended on your concentration and courage. Not hing girls did could canvass with it (Dillard 22). In contrast to Jeans dismay, Annie excitedly describes the surprise of being pursued and the anticipation of being reprimanded It was an immense discovery, pounding into my hot fling with every sliding, joyous step, that this ordinary adult evidently knew what I feeling only children knew (Dillard 23).