Teaching a Stone to Talk
Alexis Flanagan
Dr. Story
IB English
October 2014
Teaching a Stone to Talk
Annie Dillard’s Teaching a Stone to Talk is a very famous book that is completely filled with different essays she has written over a period of time. The two essays that really bring forth an enormous amount of information and contrast is “Total Eclipse” and “Aces and Eights.” The two essays are the first and last installments in Dillard’s collection. One links different ideas using language, communication and expression whereas the other is discussing the awareness of time. Both essays relate back to life and how important it is not to waste our precious lives worrying and not living to our full potential.
The essay “Total Eclipse” written by Annie Dillard centers itself around how the reader links different perspectives on language, communication, and expression. She uses explicit details and wording to explain a certain event to her audience. The main purpose of the essay “Total Eclipse” was to connect with the reader on a more personal and strong connection with a life event. Dillard ties in one of her personal experiences to produce emotion from the reader. The main point to get across to the reader though is how to convey such expression with language and as well as using experiences. The essay itself does include ideas about life and how an individual may grow. Dillard uses the experience she went through in 1979 witnessing a total eclipse. She discusses with the reader how the route to see the eclipse gives her a whole new idea and perspective of life. Dillard realizes while looking at the eclipse that life is unmeasurable and you cannot look at it as life or death and just live life to the fullest. The first time you read this essay you may not make this connection. You may just read it as just a normal experience, but if you look at it closely and read it a few times, you will see that she is trying to communicate a more personal message. She uses communication in “Total
Dr. Story
IB English
October 2014
Teaching a Stone to Talk
Annie Dillard’s Teaching a Stone to Talk is a very famous book that is completely filled with different essays she has written over a period of time. The two essays that really bring forth an enormous amount of information and contrast is “Total Eclipse” and “Aces and Eights.” The two essays are the first and last installments in Dillard’s collection. One links different ideas using language, communication and expression whereas the other is discussing the awareness of time. Both essays relate back to life and how important it is not to waste our precious lives worrying and not living to our full potential.
The essay “Total Eclipse” written by Annie Dillard centers itself around how the reader links different perspectives on language, communication, and expression. She uses explicit details and wording to explain a certain event to her audience. The main purpose of the essay “Total Eclipse” was to connect with the reader on a more personal and strong connection with a life event. Dillard ties in one of her personal experiences to produce emotion from the reader. The main point to get across to the reader though is how to convey such expression with language and as well as using experiences. The essay itself does include ideas about life and how an individual may grow. Dillard uses the experience she went through in 1979 witnessing a total eclipse. She discusses with the reader how the route to see the eclipse gives her a whole new idea and perspective of life. Dillard realizes while looking at the eclipse that life is unmeasurable and you cannot look at it as life or death and just live life to the fullest. The first time you read this essay you may not make this connection. You may just read it as just a normal experience, but if you look at it closely and read it a few times, you will see that she is trying to communicate a more personal message. She uses communication in “Total