An American Childhood

In Annie Dilliard’s An American Childhood Part Two, “Terwilliger Bunts One,” Dilliard shows admiration of many of her mother’s personal qualities and also ambivalence towards some. The qualities that that she admired were her mother’s intelligence, her ability to stun or catch anyone off guard, her endless energy, her confidence and persistence and finally, her tenacity. She not only admired her mother’s boldness, but also sometimes felt ambivalent towards it. Also she was ambivalent towards her mother’s deceptiveness.
Dilliard most admires her mother’s intelligence. This is true because she wrote anecdotes conveying her intelligence most often throughout this story. She loves the way her mother has stories about every subject and keeps her on her toes (p 150). She also admires the way her mother has invented such contraptions to be used in everyday life. Her mother’s intelligence if further displayed with her knowledge of P.T. Barnum’s dictum.
Th...