Living Like Weasels Summary

In Living like Weasels, Annie Dillard uses numerous metaphors and similes to describe weasels in the wild. She speaks about how weasels live in necessity while humans live through choice. To illustrate this she tells about the weasels’ natural instinct to grab animals by their throat and hang on until one of them loses the battle. In one specific instance, an eagle was shot down, and on its neck was a dry weasel skull, still clamped shut on the eagle’s neck. The eagle and the weasel must have gotten into one of these battles in which the weasel died still clinging onto the neck of the eagle. One evening, at Hollins Pond, Dillard came across a brown weasel. This weasel slightly startled Dillard, and provided for her a sense of self awareness.