--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: Outside the study hall the next fall, the…" description: "\"“Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our senior year, the Nabisco plant baked sweet white bread twice a week. If I sharpened a pencil at ..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg" --- # Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our… ![“Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our senior year, the Nabisco plant baked sweet white bread twice a week. If I sharpened a pencil at the back of the room I could smell the baking bread and the cedar shavings from the pencil… Pretty soon all twenty of us - our class - would be…” quote by Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg) > ““Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our senior year, the Nabisco plant baked sweet white bread twice a week. If I sharpened a pencil at the back of the room I could smell the baking bread and the cedar shavings from the pencil… Pretty soon all twenty of us - our class - would be leaving. A core of my classmates had been together since kindergarten. I'd been there eight years. We twenty knew by bored heart the very weave of each other's socks… The poems I loved were in French, or translated from the Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek. I murmured their heartbreaking sylllables. I knew almost nothing of the diverse and energetic city I lived in. The poems whispered in my ear the password phrase, and I memorized it behind enemy lines: There is a world. There is another world. I knew already that I would go to Hollins College in Virginia; our headmistress sent all her problems there, to her alma mater. "For the English department," she told me… But, "To smooth off her rough edges," she had told my parents. They repeated the phrase to me, vividly. I had hopes for my rough edges. I wanted to use them as a can opener, to cut myself a hole in the world's surface, and exit through it. Would I be ground, instead, to a nub? Would they send me home, an ornament to my breed, in a jewelry bag?”” [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. The passage captures youthful longing for escape, the bittersweet memory of shared rituals, and the yearning to carve a unique identity beyond communal expectations. **In simple terms:** Youthful yearning to break free and find personal purpose. Key Takeaway Embrace curiosity and forge your own path. Themes identity memory coming ofage escape education Mood nostalgic hopeful Type reflective motivational When to use this quote - college transition - creative writing - travel - personal development - artistic pursuits Key Concepts existential yearning nostalgia self‑actualization Questions to Reflect On - What rituals define your sense of belonging? - How can you balance individuality with connection? A Different Perspective Idealizing escape may overlook the value of community. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Adolescence](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) [Alma mater](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/alma-mater/) [Another world](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/another-world/) [Awakening](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/awakening/) [Baking bread](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/baking-bread/) [College](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/college/) [Edges Told](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/edges-told-5061530/) [Education](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/education/) [Lived Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/lived-poems-5061531/) [Poems](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems/) [Poems Whispered](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poems-whispered-5061529/) [Poetry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/poetry/) [Rough edges](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/rough-edges/) [Senior year](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/senior-year/) [Years Knew](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/years-knew-2052913/) ## Related quotes > [“She was a soldier, a warrior in her way as much as I. 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He knew it was something… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/leonardo-dicaprio/sam-mendes-said-he-took-advantage-of-the-fact-that-kate-and-i-were-so/) [Leonardo DiCaprio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/leonardo-dicaprio/) > [My mother was dead for five years before I knew that I had loved her very much.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/lillian-hellman/my-mother-was-dead-for-five-years-before-i-knew-that-i-had-loved-her/) [Lillian Hellman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/lillian-hellman/) > [I asked my mother I said, "You divorced my dad, how did you decide? She said, "I decided twelve years before he knew it."…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/denzel-washington/i-asked-my-mother-i-said-you-divorced-my-dad-how-did-you-decide-she/) [Denzel Washington](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/denzel-washington/) > [“I know you. I've known you my whole life. I've been waiting. Waiting for you to make an appearance. Waiting all these years. I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/dennis-lehane/i-know-you-i-ve-known-you-my-whole-life-i-ve-been-waiting-waiting-for/) [Dennis Lehane](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/dennis-lehane/) > [She knew that what she was going through was nothing special, just garden-variety heartbreak, the sort of thing that poets and novelists had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sarah-dunn/she-knew-that-what-she-was-going-through-was-nothing-special-just/) [Sarah Dunn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sarah-dunn/) > [Two more years were to go by before I knew anything about William Blake. Many years later, when his wife died, my godfather gave…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-housman/two-more-years-were-to-go-by-before-i-knew-anything-about-william/) [Laurence Housman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-housman/) > [“I nodded. It was pretty simple. Eight years now and we knew the routine. We do our job. Only here, our job had been…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/l-t-ryan/i-nodded-it-was-pretty-simple-eight-years-now-and-we-knew-the-routine/) [L.T. Ryan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/l-t-ryan/) > [“Ten years! It was queer. Fennelli hadn’t changed much in ten years, but I knew I had. I wondered how he recognized me so…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harold-robbins/ten-years-it-was-queer-fennelli-hadn-t-changed-much-in-ten-years-but/) [Harold Robbins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harold-robbins/) > [“The next morning, after the storm had passed and Marlboro Man had left with his horse, I sat and fed our baby on the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ree-drummond/the-next-morning-after-the-storm-had-passed-and-marlboro-man-had-left/) [Ree Drummond](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ree-drummond/) > [“He opened the side pocket of his bag and took out a photograph , stared it for long. It had been so many years,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/vidushi-gupta/he-opened-the-side-pocket-of-his-bag-and-took-out-a-photograph-stared/) [Vidushi Gupta](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/vidushi-gupta/) > [I could have waited years, now that I knew the end of the story. I was cold and wet and very happy. I could…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/graham-greene/i-could-have-waited-years-now-that-i-knew-the-end-of-the-story-i-was/) [Graham Greene](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/graham-greene/) > [I met Donald Trump in '85. I ran into him several times throughout the years. We knew we had this connection, but it wasn't…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marla-maples/i-met-donald-trump-in-85-i-ran-into-him-several-times-throughout-the/) [Marla Maples](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marla-maples/) ## More by Annie Dillard > [Like everyone in his right mind, I feared Santa Claus.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/like-everyone-in-his-right-mind-i-feared-santa-claus/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“This is a spendthrift economy; though nothing is lost, all is spent.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/this-is-a-spendthrift-economy-though-nothing-is-lost-all-is-spent/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [The creatures I seek do not want to be seen.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-creatures-i-seek-do-not-want-to-be-seen/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [Nothing moves a woman so deeply as the boyhood of the man she loves.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/nothing-moves-a-woman-so-deeply-as-the-boyhood-of-the-man-she-loves/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [We live in all we seek. The hidden shows up in too-plain sight. It lives captive on the face of the obvious - the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/we-live-in-all-we-seek-the-hidden-shows-up-in-too-plain-sight-it/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“...The mockingbird took a single step into the air and dropped. His wings were still folded against his sides as though he were singing…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-mockingbird-took-a-single-step-into-the-air-and-dropped-his-wings/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“Father had stretched out his long legs and was tilting back in his chair. Mother sat with her knees crossed, in blue slacks, smoking…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/father-had-stretched-out-his-long-legs-and-was-tilting-back-in-his/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-frayed-and-nibbled-survivor-in-a-fallen-world-and-i-am-getting/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [It should surprise no one that the life of the writer - such as it is - is colorless to the point of sensory…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/it-should-surprise-no-one-that-the-life-of-the-writer-such-as-it-is/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [It is madness to wear ladies' straw hats and velvet hats to church; we should all be wearing crash helmets. Ushers should issue life…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/it-is-madness-to-wear-ladies-straw-hats-and-velvet-hats-to-church-we/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [The sense impressions of one-celled animals are not edited for the brain. This is philosophically interesting in a rather mournful way, since it means…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/the-sense-impressions-of-one-celled-animals-are-not-edited-for-the/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“What can we make of the inexpressible joy of children? It is a kind of gratitude, I think—the gratitude of the ten-year-old who wakes…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/what-can-we-make-of-the-inexpressible-joy-of-children-it-is-a-kind-of/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [“If we were to judge nature by its common sense or likelihood, we wouldn't believe the world existed. In nature, improbabilities are the one…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/if-we-were-to-judge-nature-by-its-common-sense-or-likelihood-we/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [For writing a first draft requires from the writer a peculiar internal state which ordinary life does not induce. ... how to set yourself spinning?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/for-writing-a-first-draft-requires-from-the-writer-a-peculiar/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) > [I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/i-am-a-fugitive-and-a-vagabond-a-sojourner-seeking-signs/) [Annie Dillard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) [Explore all 509 Annie Dillard quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/) ## More Adolescence quotes > [They must move from a psychological state of victimization to a psychological state of accepting responsibility. The Palestinians must leave behind their revolutionary adolescence…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ari-shavit/they-must-move-from-a-psychological-state-of-victimization-to-a/) [Ari Shavit](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ari-shavit/) > [Having children truly ends adolescence. We are all either parents or children: responsibility-takers or those who demand from others.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ben-shapiro/having-children-truly-ends-adolescence-we-are-all-either-parents-or/) [Ben Shapiro](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ben-shapiro/) > [Teenage girls are extremists who see the world in black-and- white terms, missing shades of gray. Life is either marvelous or notworth living. School…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mary-pipher/teenage-girls-are-extremists-who-see-the-world-in-black-and-white/) [Mary Pipher](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mary-pipher/) > [Teenagers complain there's nothing to do, then stay out all night doing it.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bob-phillips/teenagers-complain-there-s-nothing-to-do-then-stay-out-all-night/) [Bob Phillips](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bob-phillips/) > [The idols of one's adolescence tend to endure - you never forget how you worshipped them.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/molly-ivins/the-idols-of-one-s-adolescence-tend-to-endure-you-never-forget-how/) [Molly Ivins](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/molly-ivins/) > [Being an adult is the ability to postpone a want for the sake of a family need.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/chris-hogan/being-an-adult-is-the-ability-to-postpone-a-want-for-the-sake-of-a/) [Chris Hogan](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/chris-hogan/) > [The donning of the ear buds marks the beginning of teen life, when children set off on their own for the passage through adolescence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/amity-shlaes/the-donning-of-the-ear-buds-marks-the-beginning-of-teen-life-when/) [Amity Shlaes](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/amity-shlaes/) > [Adolescence is when the very worst and best impulses in the human soul struggle against each other for possession.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/g-stanley-hall/adolescence-is-when-the-very-worst-and-best-impulses-in-the-human/) [G. Stanley Hall](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/g-stanley-hall/) > [Most adults would not dream of belittling, humiliating, or bullying (verbally or physically) another adult. But many of the same adults think nothing of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/laurence-steinberg/most-adults-would-not-dream-of-belittling-humiliating-or-bullying/) [Laurence Steinberg](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/laurence-steinberg/) > [If you can't count, they can cheat you. If you can't read, they can beat you.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/toni-morrison/if-you-can-t-count-they-can-cheat-you-if-you-can-t-read-they-can-beat/) [Toni Morrison](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/toni-morrison/) > [“He'd possessed all the key elements of a school shooter: hormones, misery, ammunition. People wondered how something like Columbine could happen. Jude wondered why…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/joe-hill/he-d-possessed-all-the-key-elements-of-a-school-shooter-hormones/) [Joe Hill](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/joe-hill/) > [ I remember realizing, when I did Little Women \[1994\], that that was the only time girls that age were being written about. It was… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/winona-ryder/i-remember-realizing-when-i-did-little-women-1994-that-that-was-the/) [Winona Ryder](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/winona-ryder/) > [Content without style is propaganda or adolescence. Style without content is decadence.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rita-mae-brown/content-without-style-is-propaganda-or-adolescence-style-without/) [Rita Mae Brown](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rita-mae-brown/) > [Adolescence is interesting. I mean, all of life is interesting and all of life is transitionary. But I think there is an exponential growth…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/bill-henson/adolescence-is-interesting-i-mean-all-of-life-is-interesting-and-all/) [Bill Henson](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/bill-henson/) > [“Yet GenX'er teens didn't slow down--they were just as likely to drive, drink alcohol, and date as their Boomer peers and more likely to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/jean-m-twenge/yet-genx-er-teens-didn-t-slow-down-they-were-just-as-likely-to-drive/) [Jean M. Twenge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/jean-m-twenge/) [Browse all 787 Adolescence quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/adolescence/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "“Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our senior year, the Nabisco plant baked sweet white bread twice a week. If I sharpened a pencil at the back of the room I could smell the baking bread and the cedar shavings from the pencil… Pretty soon all twenty of us - our class - would be leaving. A core of my classmates had been together since kindergarten. I'd been there eight years. We twenty knew by bored heart the very weave of each other's socks… The poems I loved were in French, or translated from the Chinese, Portuguese, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek. I murmured their heartbreaking sylllables. I knew almost nothing of the diverse and energetic city I lived in. The poems whispered in my ear the password phrase, and I memorized it behind enemy lines: There is a world. There is another world. I knew already that I would go to Hollins College in Virginia; our headmistress sent all her problems there, to her alma mater. \"For the English department,\" she told me… But, \"To smooth off her rough edges,\" she had told my parents. They repeated the phrase to me, vividly. I had hopes for my rough edges. I wanted to use them as a can opener, to cut myself a hole in the world's surface, and exit through it. Would I be ground, instead, to a nub? Would they send me home, an ornament to my breed, in a jewelry bag?”", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Annie Dillard" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the-fall-of-our-senior-year-the/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Adolescence" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the-fall-of-our-senior-year-the/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/84e/annie-dillard-509_adolescence_outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the_2238000.jpg", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“Outside the study hall the next fall, the fall of our senior year, the Nabisco plant baked sweet white bread…” — Annie Dillard", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Annie Dillard", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/annie-dillard/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "“Outside the study hall the next...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the-fall-of-our-senior-year-the/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/annie-dillard/outside-the-study-hall-the-next-fall-the-fall-of-our-senior-year-the/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```