Fairness In An American Childhood

In the short story “An American Childhood” Annie Dillard brings up the topic of fairness. The word “fairness” varies for different people, with different ethnicity, and different lifestyles. Annie Dillard's sense of fairness stems from the fiction stories she has been constantly reading, and her everyday life. Fairness is never assigned to you, but requires you to identify it.

Dillard discovers a book in the library, called “The Field Book of Ponds and Streams” Digging deeper into the meaning of this book. The contrast of a pond and stream, can also be described as the difference between the people of Homewood and Annie. Ponds are trapped and secluded, just like the hopes and lives of those in Homewood. While a stream is free and running and