Annie Dilliards The Chase is a chapter from her autobiography, An American Childhood. In The Chase, Dillard guides us through a childhood memory which leaves her trapped, exhausted and terrified.
As a child, Annie was what some call a tomboy. The neighborhood boys taught her how to play football and baseball. She enjoyed the strategy of football, especially when she was able to fool the guys on the other team. Annie was a bit younger than the neighborhood boys were, she was not more than seven and the boys ranged from eight to ten. Being younger, and a girl, Annie knew she had to work hard to keep up with the neighborhood boys at sports. A little hard work and persistence paid off. During the winter, Annie and the neighborhood boys were not able to play sports, so they would spend hours throwing snowballs at passing cars. That is, until they were caught.
One morning after a fresh snowfall, Annie and the boys decided to toss a few snowballs at the oncoming vehicles. Annie paints a picture of them standing in a front yard up to mid-calf in snow, on a cold and cloudy day, waiting for the next vehicle to drive by. The children werent standing there for too long, when they heard a vehicle in the distance. The readied their ammunition and waited for the vehicle to drive by. Just as the car drove past them, they pummeled it with snowballs. Annie states, Often, of course, we hit our target, but this time, the only time in all of life, the car pulled over and stopped. Its wide black door opened; a man got out of it, running. He didnt even close the car door. (Dillard, 100)
The children were terrified and they began to run in different directions, but the man ran after them. Annie and her friend Mikey were the two unlucky children that were followed. The man was in his twenties and dressed in a suit and tie. A man with less fortitude might have given up, after the children fled, but not this man. He was determined to catch them.
Annie and Mikey were convinced they could lose the man in the suit. They ran through a maze of backyards, hills and alleyways with no avail. He chased us silently, block after block. (Dillard, 101) He chased us through backyard labyrinths of ten blocks before he caught us by our jackets. (Dillard, 101) Annie and Mikey just stood there. They were terrified, cold and exhausted. By this point, Annies lips were swollen and she could barely see.
The man in the suit yelled at them, and they listened. They didnt mind the scolding, but rather enjoyed the glory of the chase. Annie and Mikey were thrilled that they had lasted so long. It took every bit of energy they both had to make it as far as they did. If in that snowy backyard the driver of the black Buick had cut off our heads, Mikeys and mine, I would have died happy, for nothing has required so much of me since being chased all over Pittsburgh in the middle of winter (Dillard, 102)
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