Essay about Analysis of "Seeing" by Annie Dillard

Max
11/5/12
Eng. 101 9:30-11:00

"Seeing" by Annie Dillard:
1) According to Dillard, lovers and the knowledgeable can see well. Yet she also suggests that those who are knowledgeable on a topic, such as people who have been blind from birth and can suddenly see (due to an opperation), can perhaps view more objectively the world around them, and see it in a way that those with vision from birth cannot. Infants, she says, can see very clearly, for they are viewing the world for the first time, and can observe the colors and the light with no prejudgments, but we forget this experience as we grow older, and only occasionally catch glimpses of this phenomenon.
2) Lovers can see well, because their vision transcends the obvious, if …show more content…
She observed "a" moth burn in the candle, but it could have been any moth, for they all are vulnerable to fire. Humans as well, are all connected in this way, when one person dies, we are reminded of our own vulnerability and our own lack of power in the face of death.
9) In Dillard's essay the moth dies by flying into the flame of the candle while Dillard is camping.
10) I think the moth is significant to Dillard because it reminds her of her own vulnerability. Death is one thing which connects all life forms, irronic, but true. When she speaks of "a" moth, she speaks of all moths, and not only all moths, but all life forms, including herself. The moth stands out to her as well because the moth essentially surrenders it's life in order to allow her to read through the night, not knowingly or on purpose, but Dillard benefits from the death of this moth. This is sort of an example of the circle of life, for though one life form dies, another is able to flourish, this is of course on a small scale, but the concept is the same.
11) Dillard retreats to the hills because she is going through writer's block and is trying to re-motivate herself to write. She brings with her The Day on Fire by James Ullman, a book which she read as a young person which inspired her to write.
12) In "Death of a Moth", Dillard seems to be unsure what she wants to write about. She begins by talking about herself living alone in an apartment, then diverges to discuss her trip

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Essay about Analysis of "Seeing" by Annie Dillard

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