expectation of what we think and what we expect to see. Expectation is a barrier that keep us from seeing beyond and being aware of the things that are the most important. In the essay‚ “ This is water ” by David Foster Wallace and “ Seeing” by Annie Dillard ‚ we see that we have to learn what to think and how to think. If we choose to open our mind and noticing the unexpected‚ it will lead to happiness and clarity‚ but being small-minded and focusing on expectations will affect the way we see the
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why the author decided to do what they did. In the short story “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard and “Always Running” by Luis J. Rodriguez‚ they utilize many action verbs‚ different forms of figurative language‚ tone‚ and structure to engage the reader. Dillard and Rodriguez uses active verbs in their stories to bring out how they felt about being chased by adults. In “An American Childhood”‚ Dillard explains how she escapes with her friend “under a low tree‚ up a bank‚ through a hedge‚ down
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An American Childhood is written by Annie Dillard in 1987. This short story is about her childhood memory. On a winter morning‚ seven years old Dillard and her friends were looking for fun on Reynolds Street where they lived‚ and then they started making ice balls to throw at passing cars. It happened when one of the ice balls hit a black Buick which was running on the street. The driver stopped the car at the side of the road and he got out of the car. Suddenly‚ he started running toward the kids
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In the except from "An American Childhood" by Annie Dillard‚ a young Protestant girl apparently living near a Catholic school‚ St.Bede’s‚ describes here view of the school children and the nuns. As the narrator goes on you can tell she has prejudged these people based on things she has heard‚ not from her own experience. She states‚ "From the other Protestants children‚ I gathered St.Bede’s was a cave where Catholic children had to go to fill there brow- and tan workbooks in the dark‚ possible
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Throughout Annie Dillard’s "Terwilliger Bunts One"‚ she expresses many feelings and emotions towards her mother. Her mother‚ a bit of a "prankster‚" is constantly testing the wits of her peers using the intelligence of her own. Her husband‚ guests of the home‚ even complete strangers would lose their composure over these pranks which resulted in many hard feelings towards Dillard’s mother. "Pam!" "Dammit‚ Pam!" "What ails such people?" "What on earth possesses them?" Those are the words of anger
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Although our eyes watch the same scenes‚ our minds tell different stories. As John James Audubon and Annie Dillard gaze at large flocks of pigeons in flight‚ they both experience different emotions and spiritual feelings despite viewing the same scene. In contempt of their varying reactions to the birds‚ both writers enlist a sense of admiration and respect for the beauty present within the nature of the birds. Audubon maintains the presence of a scientific observer as he counts the flocks
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Virginia Woolf is a British writer born in 1882 and she died a horrific death in 1941. She jumped unto River Ouse wearing an overcoat filled with rocks. She committed suicide as she was depressed and has a pessimistic feeling towards life due to a mental illness she has been cursed with. She wrote ‘The Death of the Moth’ in 1942. This essay contains a wide variety of rhetorical devices that makes it intriguing. Although the essay is short‚ she wrote a detailed story with an underlying metaphor.
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“The Death of the Moth” Analysis Life is a constant struggle against the ever present chill of death. Fear‚ betrayal‚ and cowardice all stems from life’s distaste of death. Human beings naturally rebuke the unknown‚ so it is only logical that people fight the inevitability of death. However‚ most people are ignorant of the reality of one day dying‚ prompting writer Virginia Woolf to write the essay‚ “The Death of the Moth”‚ in order to convey the frailty of life whilst also showing the awesome
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been a great source of wonder and inspiration for mankind. Writers have composed about a wide range of the spectacular elements of planet earth from the mightiest of oceans to the most idiosyncratic species of insects. Both John James Audubon and Annie Dillard describe their personal experiences of witnessing large flocks of birds in flight in their own respective passages. The two authors have similar experiences but they describe the birds in different ways. Both descriptions are full of colorful language
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in someone or something but if opportunity does not come the potential is never revealed. It can be observed in Annie Dillards’ An American Childhood‚ in events in history‚ and even in today’s society that there is extensive underlying potential in people and places that we simply overlook because there is no opportunity for it to be demonstrated in its fullest capacity. Through Annie Dillard’s description of her mother in her book An American Childhood‚ the exponential potential for greatness in
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