The essay titled “Calling Home” by Jean Brandt recounts her childhood experience at the mall, which initially seemed joyful but took a turn for the worse when she impulsively stole a 75-cent snoopy button. Brandt’s exceptional writing skills are evident as she provides detailed descriptions and maintains a seamless flow throughout the narrative. By expressing her emotions in each event, Brandt effectively enables readers to empathize with her thirteen-year-old self during that time. The essay begins with a cheerful tone, as Brandt recalls the excitement of the day, stating, “As we all piled into the car, I knew it was going to be a fabulous day” (paragraph 1). It is established that the purpose of the mall visit was last-minute Christmas shopping, accompanied by singing carols and exchanging laughter along the way (paragraph 1).
Her descriptions of happiness throughout the story gave the impression that happiness was expected from the beginning. In paragraph 3, she contemplated buying a Snoopy button but ultimately decided to steal it by putting it in her pocket to avoid waiting in a 30-minute line and paying only 75 cents. Thinking she had succeeded, the story took a suspenseful turn as she described walking out of the store and being startled by an unexpected tap on her shoulder (paragraph 5). From there, the excitement of the story continued to unfold as she learned valuable lessons and faced embarrassment when she was led through the mall by officers and felt the stares of a hundred pairs of eyes on her (paragraph 17). She described her experience as if it were a movie, finding both embarrassment and excitement in being searched (paragraph 18). However, her emotions shifted to fear when she was allowed to make one phone call to her parents and realized she didn’t know what to say, especially to her mother (paragraph 18). The story concluded with a sense of liberation as she looked into her parents’ eyes and knew the ordeal was finally over (paragraph 38).
