In An American Childhood, Annie Dillard describes her house, and indeed her whole neighborhood, as being silent. This is because all the men have gone to work; their kids have gone to school; and their wives are left at home. At this particular time in American history, this was a common scene in suburban communities right across the country. In most households, gender roles were pretty much set in stone: the husband went out to work while the wife stayed at home to do the housework and raise the children.

Emptied of life by the mass exodus of husbands and schoolchildren every morning, neighborhoods like Annie's are plunged into an eerie silence. At a certain time each morning, all sense of community in these identikit neighborhoods is lost. The ensuing silence isn't the silence associated with peace and quiet; it is the deafening silence that speaks volumes about suburban life in post-war America.