A Practiced Grace Response

In the essay "A Practiced Grace," the calm and peace of the barista in the coffee shop create a mood of comfortable repetitiveness.  When customers approach her, she accepts their order kindly and begins to make the coffee without a thought.  She even makes small talk with a regular customer while her hands are busy.  The intervals between customers are filled with cleaning and sweeping, both of which are simple tasks. Even with a line of customers waiting on her, she continues her job with grace, lending itself to the serenity of the essay. Her movements have a "steady sureness" and she seems to the reader very confident and secure in her environment, like she "belongs here." The author likens her job to that of breathing, which creates a peaceful mood for the reader because of the simplicity of both actions. At the end, descriptions of the view from inside the coffee shop compare two different worlds. The outside world is filled with soccer moms hustling about and a man carrying various items briskly in the cold, while the inside world acts as an escape for businessmen and has a pleasant, warm aroma. These words contribute to the essays relaxing tone by using sensory deteails which allow the reader to imagine what the barista's life is like.