One Writer's Beginnings

Eudora Welty opens with a single vignette describing a childhood memory of listening to her parents whistling back and forth to one another from opposite floors, up and down the stairs. Her father would whistle a short tune, and Welty’s mother would respond. The author describes the setting of her childhood: Jackson, Mississippi, in 1909. Welty was the oldest of three children, and she remembers growing older to the sound of a grandfather clock striking the hour in the hallway of her family home. Other clocks in the home responded, filling the house with chimes. Welty credits these clocks for teaching her the importance of chronology in writing.

Welty’s parents were foundational in building her skills as a writer and observer. Her father devoted his free time to academic study, filling his home with tools for learning: a telescope, magnifying glass, etc. On Sundays, Eudora’s father took his children to his office after church. There, Welty recalls playing with her father’s typewriter. For Christmas, he gave his children creative toys and building sets. Welty credits his influence as a keen meteorologist on the role weather plays in her writing.