Analysis of “Seeing” by Annie Dillard

ooze 11/5/12 Eng. 101 930-1100 Seeing by Annie Dillard 1) According to Dillard, get laidrs and the knowledgeable toilet behold sound. Yet she also suggests that those who ar knowledgeable on a topic, such as people who concur been blind from birth and apprise suddenly see (due to an opperation), can by chance view more objectively the foundation around them, and see it in a way that those with vision from birth can non.Infants, she says, can see truly intelligibly, for they are viewing the world for the first time, and can observe the color and the light with no prejudgments, solely we forget this experience as we wrench older, and only occasion completelyy catch glimpses of this phenomenon. 2) Lovers can see well, because their vision transcends the obvious, if they love a lake, they do not merely see a lake, save also see what the lake represents for them, they see meaning.The knowledgeable can see because as lowly children we are constantly postulateing, barely th ose who are knowledgeable draw bulge out to learn throughout their becomes, which enables them to keep discovering new ways to view the world and go aways them to keep an open mind and open eye. Those who know little can see, but only if they are open to knowledge, even if that knowledge is self-importance taught, they just must be open to experience and to wonder. ) Seeing contributes to felicitousness because when we allow ourselves to see, we allow ourselves to open our minds and our hearts, and to see the wonder in the world, which we often close ourselves off to as we grow older. Perhaps when we begin to learn of all the sufferings of reality, we close ourselves off to see, because we dont necessitate to know, but if we do not allow ourselves to see and witness suffering, we shut the door to the joys and wonders of this world as well. ) The part of Dillards essay which struck me the most was her retelling of the experiences of those who had been blinded from birth and w ere so granted sight, and how they did not have a sense of visual post or distance. It made me realize how my perception of the world is a crew of all my senses, and I cant really distinguish them. If I see an apple, I dont only see it, but I imagine how it feels, tastes, smells, enceintes as I bight into it. It is hard to separate each of those from each other, but the sound of n apple being bitten into without the knowledge of it being an apple or knowing what it tastes or smells like, is a novel idea. To think of it separately is difficult, but if you can isolate it, it is truly fascinating, exciting even, for it is like a totally new experience. 5) When Dillard uses the term seeing, she intend seeing something beyond the obvious. When looking at a tree, not seeing just a tree, but seeing it as if you were seeing it for the first time, and seeing it for all that it entails. ) A mortal may see not with the eyes, if they were to feel something deep within themselves that cou ld not be attributed to any of the senses. Seeing in this case means to come across what the view means to the individual. 7) See is most closely a equivalent word with understand and appreciate. What Dillard means is to appreciate, for often we go through demeanor not seeing because we are ungrateful. However, whizz cannot truly appreciate unless they understand. One can look at the stars and not know what they are and still see them and understand.What I mean by understand, is not to be able to scientifically explain, but to wonder to the highest degree and to be able to understand what it means to the the individual. cobblers last of a Moth- Annie Dillard 8) The indefinite article article a in Dillards title suggests that when she speaks most the vulnerabilities and fragilities of one moth, she speaks for the whole species. She observed a moth consume in the candle, but it could have been any moth, for they all are defenseless to fire. Humans as well, are all connected i n this way, when one person dies, we are reminded of our own vulnerability and our own lack of effect in the face of conclusion. ) In Dillards essay the moth dies by flying into the fervency of the candle while Dillard is camping. 10) I think the moth is significant to Dillard because it reminds her of her own vulnerability. wipeout 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 its life in order to allow her to look at 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 writers block and is chast iseing to re-motivate herself to write. She brings with her The twenty-four hours 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 to the hills to try to get motivated to write again and about watching a moth die in her candle flame, and then in the last paragraph she goes back to talking about living alone. The middle of her essay about her retreat to the hills by herself seems to be about her feelings of loneliness as well though. Even the moth dying is a representation of her solitude, for the moth dies alone. Dillard enjoys being alone, as she clearly states, which I have no doubt is true, but she also seems to want to want company.I find this very relateable, I enjoy my solitude very much, but sometimes I wish that I could be riant and comfortable livin g with another person, but I feel I cannot be myself unless I am alone. The only time Dillard wishes to not live alone, is when something is funny, because it is much easier to share joyous times with others than to share ones pain. I would elect to die alone because then I would not have to pertain about how those around me matt-up, and I would be able to allow myself to feel however I felt, and if I did feel pain when I died, I would want to be able to feel that, and people around me might hinder my ability to do that.I think this is what Dillard may have felt watching the moth die, she pities the moth for dying alone, but the moth goes out majestically and for this reason Dillard envies her. Dillard wishes her death to be real, majestic, and she fears living her life with other people will destruct her death. It is a sad reality to live your life in fear of death, but even more tragic to live your life in preperation for a perfect death.