When I was young enough to still spend a long time buttoning my shoes in the morning, I’d listen toward the hall: Daddy upstairs
was shaving, in the bathroom, and Mother downstairs was frying the bacon. They would begin whispering back and forth to each other up and down the stairwell. My father would whistle his phrase, my mother would try to whistle, then hum hers back. … I drew my buttonhook in and out and listened to it – I know it was "The Merry Widow." The difference was, their song almost floated with laughter: how different from the record, which growled from the beginning, as if the Victrola were only slowly being wound up. They kept it running between them, up and down the stairs where I was now just about ready to run clattering down and show them my shoes. In the above excerpt Welty is using what literary device? sensory details hyperbole pathos alliteration
In the above excerpt Welty was using sensory details (principally sounds)to bring her story to life, She could hear her father shaving, and her mother cooking breakfast. She could hear the whispers and whistles and the clattering of shoes as she raced downstairs. She remembered he sound of the old Victrola. She could smell the bacon frying. Through all of these sensory impressions Welty has built a vivid and memorable picture of her childhood.
