"Terwillger bunts one" (page 149) is a phrase that Dillard's mother picks up from a radio announcer talking about a baseball game. She uses her mothers reaction to this unusual sounding phrase to test pens and whispers it in her daughters ear in the middle of a prank as a spring board for the rest of her essay. It displays the most memorable things about her mothers personality; she is spontaneous, mischievous and a person that deviates from normalcy on a regular basis.

The tone of Dillard's essay is generally a positive one; she obviously takes pleasure in describing her exceptional mother and is proud of the lessons her mother taught her, referring to her "energy and intelligence" (page 152), her "restless mental vigor" (page153), and her willingness to stand up for her opinions, no matter how unpopular.

I can relate to this essay because my mother had a very strong, opinionate

My mother taught me more about being and individual; being who you are no matter what the circumstance. I know that for myself, in my younger years, I would never have admitted to liking or aspiring to be like my mother, but with the passing of every year I realize that in some ways, I am more like her than I ever thought I could be. I know that I posses a lot of the same prankster, bold and outspoken qualities that she had. Even if I don't like to admit it, it is a part of me. She is a part of me. This carefree attitude of freedom has in many instances given me strength when most people would fold with embarrassment or shame. Dillard's essay about her mother makes an excellent point about growing stronger through our own humility teaches a simple lesson in confidence, very much like my mother has for me. This is who I am, and I am proud of it.

I believe that Dillard learns a great deal about life and the person that she aspires to be from her mother's personality and actions. By the conclusion of the essay Dillard forces the reader to look back on the story to learn the mother's lessons. As a result it becomes clear that everything she was taught, confidence in herself, fearlessness in the face of adversity, a respect and love for the abnormal, and a sense of protection for the needy. At the end of her essay Dillard states, "And in fact it was always clear to Amy and me, and Molly when she grew old enough to listen, that if our classmates came to cruelty, just as much as if the neighborhood or the nation came to madness, we were expected to take, and would be each separately capable of taking a stand." (page 154) She makes it very clear that one of the most important things that her mother taught her was how to stan

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Approximate Word count = 1174
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)