The structure of “The Little Store” contains various elements that contribute to the meaning of the story, including the childlike perspective, foreshadowing, and the characterization of Mr. Sessions.
The story is told from a child’s perspective, which contributes to the structure in that the child gradually unveils the event concerning the Session family. From her naïve perspective, we are told about the stores impact on her childhood, including the violent act that she could not determine. Information about the story is kept “down at a child’s eye level,” giving the story a naïve structure (157). From the child’s perspective, the trip to the grocery store is like an adventure to a far-away place. The structure is important here in order to convey the going and returning of the child, but at the end, the author discusses a different trip to the store. This second trip has a darker theme, culminating in the event that changed the way the author thinks about the Little Grocery Store. The structure is such that we are shown a happy instance of Mr. Sessions, then a darker, mysterious instance of the same man, where “it may be harder to recognize kindness – or unkindness, either – in a face whose eyes are in shadow (159).” The author structures the story in this way so that the reader is left in the dark about what the author is trying to convey until the very end of the story, and even then it is hard to tell what the author wants us to walk away from the story with (are we supposed to believe that grocers are scary people, or that shady people can appear nice but are evil?).
The author effectively uses foreshadowing to supplement the structure of the story. The author carefully begins with carefree days, and then moves to what the Little Grocery Store is like. On the trip home from the store, the author foreshadows the end when she says that one could also travel through the sewer in order to get home, where “you could go in darkness through this tunnel to where you next saw light (if you ever did) (158).” The author also foreshadows a darkness when she brings up the time she saw the Monkey Man, a shadowy figure who invades the sanctity of her world by showing up at the grocery store.
In characterizing the store and Mr. Sessions, Welty gives us a wealth of information. Firstly, the store appeals to the sense of smell before all other senses. Welty describes entering the store and while her eyes are adjusting to the light, she can smell everything about the store. She then goes on to describe the store through sight, leaving out touch and sound. This gives us a vivid shot of what the store is like, as the sights and smells are most powerful.