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The Death Of A Moth Annie Dillard Analysis

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The Death Of A Moth Annie Dillard Analysis
Annie Dillard's essay "The Death Of A Moth" made no sense to me when I initially read it, in a "sleep-deprived" state. In the haze my mind was in, during the battle with my body and my desire to read this essay, all I could make out was that; she berated the small cat about her short-term memory before kicking her out of the bed they shared. She then proceeded to the bathroom to consort with a spider whose attire reminded her of a day when she murdered a moth. She spoke about the carnage, her sharply dressed friend the spider left, behind the toilet, seemingly admiring the skillful way in which the evidence of the massacre was displayed.
In and out of my conscious state at this point, I remembered the speech Dr. Brundle gave to Veronica (in the 1986 movie "The Fly") about "Insect-Politics" or
…show more content…
During this time of introspection, she enjoys the various forms of life that surround her, in the trees and on the ground around her feet. Fascinating as this all was, none of the creatures seem to captivate her the way the moth population did. She seemed to be amused by their instinctive curiosity that led them to the candle she used to pierce the darkness but inadvertently ruined the flight patterns of many curious passerby's.
Annie seemed unaffected by this routine until one fateful night a moth flew right into her candle and a struggle between life and death unfolded before her eyes. Though she relived what she witnessed in graphic detail, she managed to find the significance in this experience to discover the writer within herself. Through the sacrificial death of this moth she realizes the need for sacrifice on the part of the writer in order to be worthy of compare to her inspirational poet Arthur

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