Wednesday, October 9, 2019
Due Tuesday, October 15th - "Death of a Moth"
Overview and Directions: In preparation for our unit on Virginia Woolf, please read the following essays titled, "Death of a Moth," one by Virginia Woolf, the other by Annie Dillard. Please comment on these works in a comprehensive blog response. I warn you. These pieces require work from its audience. Be brave in your analysis. Take risks. I look forward to your responses.
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Both stories were confusing due to their wordy nature and often utilizing metaphors which made the story interesting but difficult to tell where the main story was. However both showcased the idea of death. Woolf’s essay focused more on the significance of the death while Dillard seemed to focus more on the moment of death. Woolf’s essay was talked about death as an entity which she compares to how “Just as life had been strange a few minutes before, so death was now as strange.” By showing what the idea of death was like for such an everyday common creature it made death seem much more significant in the story as she describes the moth as “insignificant” but holds such a momentous message. It reminds me of the sonnet, “Death, be not proud” as the moth spent so much time fighting against its ultimate fate. Dillard’s was much more violent in the death of the moth as it burned to death but it was written so beautifully it seemed as if the moth was still alive. However the story focused on the idea of being a writer rather than the death itself which was interesting. Her ideas regarding being a writer were quite strange as she suggested, “you can’t be anything else” but this could be like her talking about how much topics affect the life of a writer so it embodies the writer. Both essays offered new insights into the idea of death which is an often avoided topic. Even the smallest creatures to the powerful experience death and it was eye opening to see how it is experienced from the perspective of a moth.
ReplyDeleteBoth essays were extremely confusing due to how they were able to write such a long literary piece on something that most likely lasted a minute or two. The clear them in both of the essays was definitely death and its balance with life and purpose. In The Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf she emphasized the energy and life possessed by the moth is almost comical due to its size and ability to not do much other than fly into corners. The piece is somehow wrapped up with the moth dying despite it's struggle to right itself which it does in the end - i found this a little weird cuz if it was able to right itself and get back on its feet why is it still dead. The second piece i read by Annie Dillard tackled death in a different way. Instead of portraying the death of the moth as a struggle that was eventually lost it represented the death of the female moth as not a battle but rather a simple defeat - it was over before the moth even had a chance. I guess one can draw numerous metaphors from each piece depending on the way they interpreted it but in my opinion I interpreted it as such - life as we may consider revolves around being happy with friend and family and whatnot in a human sense, however life is also intwined with all living creatures even tiny moths. The theme trying to be conveyed form both pieces (once again in my opinion which could obviously be way off) is that life truly doesn't pick biases or sides, regardless of if it was a good or bad moth in the end both are dead. The futile struggle that the moth had in the first piece was useless because in the end it simply died.
ReplyDelete“The Death of a Moth” a title shared between two different pieces of literature. Even
ReplyDeletewith Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard both writing a descriptive story about a moth dying they are yet very distinctive. Their tones of writing and illustrative words they use differ from one another. In Woolf’s story her tone shifts from being optimistic to melancholy. As she witnesses the moth’s struggle to escape the windowpane she thinks of helping the moth until she realized it was undergoing death and she would have only prolonged the moth’s suffering. “But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death. I laid the pencil down again,” this depicts the loss of hope Woolf had and the change from gratifying descriptions to sorrow ones. Her tone almost seems grim compared to Dillard’s. In Dillard’s narrative her tone throughout is more optimistic unlike Woolf’s which is a more pessimistic view. “These I could release by a quick flip with a stick; in the morning I would find my cooking stuff gilded with torn flecks of moth wings, triangles of shiny dust here and there on the aluminum,” this manifests how Annie Dillard was able to free them and how she approaches the moth in a fairly sanguine way. The message behind these two essays contrast each other. Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard utilize life and death as the theme of their stories. Wolfe compares the short struggle and life of a moth to the daily struggles of human life, meanwhile Dillard believes that death is a sudden act and a person should have some time to mourn, but after a bit you have to “blow it out” and move on. I really like these two narratives and how differently the death of a moth was conveyed by these two authors.
“The Death of the Moth” by both Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard show the inner workings of the minds of writers. Both Woolf and Dillard in their essays, examine and describe the death of a moth, deriving meaning from their experiences. In Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth”, the moth is described alive, as full of life and “zest”, before succumbing to death. Dillard’s essay describes a moth that flies into her candle flame, and remains there burning for hours, becoming a wick. While many people who witness the death of a moth would just take it at face value, Woolf and Dillard see deeper meaning in it. Woolf sees the moth as a sort of metaphor for life and how no one is stronger than death. The moth, which was before full of life, flying from one corner to another of a window pane, has now laid and accepted it’s death. Dillard is captivated by a moth that flies into a flame, attracted to it’s light, and becomes the fire itself, burning for hours. Dillard then describes a time in which she asks her students if they want to give their life to be writers. When they all say yes, she tells them that that is all they can do. They cannot be anything but writers. Woolf and Dillard, both writers, cannot help but be writers. They cannot compromise the writer in them for other parts of their lives. When they see a moth die, they cannot help but see a deeper meaning about life and death, and feel the need to write about it.
ReplyDeleteIn no way do I mean to discredit either works in my examination. Both essays conduct an awing exploration of the concepts of death and emphasize the importance of learning to appreciate and understand the weight of death. Yet in order to understand these messages, one must view death in a light of negativity, as is the commonplace thing to do.
ReplyDeleteDeath for many means the separation of a loved one and/or a journey into the unknown. It means another life gone in the world, a life that was dear to someone that can never quite be replaced but merely pushed into the background as time progresses. In the end, however, what really happens after death is a mystery to us, and might always remain as such. What if death is some magnificent land where magic and fairies exist; where we’re finally able to answer the question of what is life, and answer all the mysteries left unsolved when we still breathed? Would our perceptions of death change?
It is without a full understanding that we fear it. We know whether or not it be bad or good, yet we fear it. And we let such a fear consume us, have it drive us to create cures to incurable diseases and convinces us to cry when we have a loved one pass. We fear it from instinct, yes, but also because it’s what society teaches us. But what happens when you take that fear away? Could death be thought of as something more beautiful instead of the reaper and his scythe?
What happens if the battle of the moth in Virginia Woolf’s Death of a Moth was more than the beauty in the moths struggle for life, only then to arrive at a sad and forlorn conclusion as it succumbs to death? What if the moths struggle for life was seen as beautiful to then resolve in an ending where the struggle for life- although perhaps pointless in a sense- resolves to an honorable fight with a just ending to its beauty? What would death be then?
Both of the pieces titled “The Death of the Moth”, one by Virginia Woolf and the other by Annie Dillard were very different. Virginia Woolf’s piece captured the energy and life of a moth, the motion of its body fluttering between window panes. Then suddenly, the moth flew to the bottom pane and soon slipped on to his back on the window sill. Struggling to move at all, Virginia perfectly described the struggle of this moth fighting against death - but in the end showing that death was stronger. In Dillard’s piece, she did not focus on the life or motion of the moth, but the death itself. She described, oddly to me, the way the moth disintegrated into the fire of a candle in a descriptive tone that actually made me feel quite uncomfortable. I find death to be a very fragile topic and I am very sensitive to it, as most people probably are, therefore I found Annie Dillard’s piece to be a lot tougher to read than Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth”. Although both described death, Dillard’s just seemed to be more upfront and violent in a subtle way. The language in their works was difficult, I even had to look some up, but it allowed for a fluent piece that helped put everything together. The wording especially helped me to understand what each author was trying to say and what point they were trying to get across. For example, Woolf used the phrase, “a tiny bead of pure life”, to describe the moth and how she viewed the moth dancing to show “the true nature of life”. For me, this sentence written on the second page of her work allowed for me to understand what Woolf had been trying to say throughout the entire essay; she saw the potential within the moth and tried to get the reader to see the life that the moth was losing within. I actually got emotional while reading this essay because the way she described the moth in such a calm tone allowed for the piece to settle into my mind. Whereas when Dillard described the moth she saw dying as a “spectacular skeleton”, with its “moving wings ignited like tissue paper” and having “her six legs clawed, curled, blackened, and ceased disappearing utterly” did not make me emotional, but instead uncomfortable. Both of these works, however, gave me the opportunity how two pieces which were named the same can be so different. The way the author describes an experience can significantly affect the way a reader interprets and feels about it, making the essay so much more important. In the end, I liked these two pieces a lot because it showed me the contrast of two works and how they work together to have the same outcome in the end, but expanding on the story in a different way.
ReplyDeleteIn their essays, Dillard and Woolf both explore their own ideas surrounding life and death. They both used the symbol of a moth to express their ideas. In Woolf’s essay, she placed a lot of significance on life before death. There was a very detailed description of the moth in the few hours of its life. Woolf pitied the moth because it was not as beautiful as a butterfly, but it was still content with life. She began to pay more attention to it later on when the moth began to struggle to stay alive. The moth’s struggle symbolizes human’s desire to stay alive and the fear of death. Woolf views death as the enemy, but also recognizes that death is inevitable. The moth represents us, and in Woolf’s story, the moth lived the life that Woolf believes we all should live. Woolf’s tone is much more somber and dull, especially in the quote “But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death.” She focuses greatly on the moth’s struggle with death, and the words “life” and “death” are very frequent in her descriptions. Annie Dillard takes a different approach in her essay, and sees the value of life, especially in one’s death. Dillard’s tone is more informative and somewhat educational. Her message draws inspiration from nature, specifically, the example she uses of her camping in the Blue Ridge Mountains. This example highlights the significance of being alone in nature. The moth that burned and died in her candle signified how short life can be and how quickly life can end, but the whole process is beautiful. It seems like Dillard cherishes and values life more, while Woolf considers life pointless and meaningless.
ReplyDeleteI liked Virginia Woolf’s “Death of a Moth” better than Annie Dillard’s. Woolf’s essay just intrigued me more. The minutes, hours, that the narrator watches a single moth desperately trying to avoid death seems so insignificant, but is filled with meaning. There is the contrast between the liveliness outside the window and the stillness inside the house, with the moth as the bridge. The moth which is in it’s last moments of true life stuck between those panes. “He was little or nothing but life”, she writes. Although there is a clear message of ever prevailing death for everyone, in that moment she sees the moth as only it’s life. This one bug, fighting to stay alive, has nothing and is nothing in that moment other than life. You must, when reading this essay, think about your own life, if only for a moment. You wonder if you are doing something that is like being forced between two planes, doing nothing productive and waiting for life to take its toll. The line that caught my eye was definitely “One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life”. I pondered it for a moment. Do we pity only those who are living? That once they have passed, we no longer sympathize with them? Or, rather, are we sympathizing with the living, sympathizing with the suffering. Do we sympathize with the moth because it is living, we want it to die because it would be relieved? I am still not sure. But the piece is lovely nonetheless.
ReplyDeleteAnnie Dillard’s “Death of a Moth” is more of a story to me, whereas Woolf’s is just a stream of consciousness. She makes interesting connections with life also, as the moth becomes another wicker in the flame, another source of light and life. These moths represent more of an energy after death. The narrator sees herself understanding the moths more, their biology and purpose. The story was a little bit harder for me to understand than Woolf’s, and I guess therefore less enjoyable. But I appreciate what Dillard was able to do with the connecting stories and cobwebs in the corner of a bathroom.
Both dealing with the time preceding death, Woolf and Dillard’s essays offer great contrast in its description and imagery. While Woolf seems to be fascinated with the animal’s fate, Dillard appears to be nonchalant about the occurring; however, both take great recognition of the event, utilizing the death of a presumably insignificant life, to allude to a greater meaning of death, and life.
ReplyDeleteWoolf, previously describing the moth’s ‘vigor’, turns to intricately portraying its path towards imminent death. She does however, attempt to aid the pitiful creature, but as she “stretched out a pencil” in order to do so, she is overpowered by an unlikely epiphany, stating that “the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death”. It is peculiar and ambiguous why the realization comes about, specially when looking at her previous paragraphs, when the moth is described as “little or nothing but life”; nonetheless, the author goes on to laying her pencil down and carefully observing the creature as it spends his last, elongated moments, struggling to find a way out, ultimately succumbing, “uncomplainingly” accepting death to be stronger than himself.
Dillard displays a more macabre imagery. Her moth suffers a quicker death, while being encased in a hellish scene, “her antennae crisped and burned away” and her fragile body quickly succumbed completely to the fire. Dillard does not appear to have any sentiment, other that metaphorical, towards the moth. While she questioned her age and whether she has “done her work”, the author apathetically watched as the moth “burned for two hours without changing”, and only them, she blew her out. Contrastingly, the author then compares the insect to a “hollow saint”, which only further sets the stage for an unexpected ending, where Dillard, after detailedly explaining the event, goes on to attributing it to the moths she found in her bathroom, as if the experience was merely a meaningless occurrence, only remembered because it related to a trivial matter. However, I highly doubt that she sees it as such, although her metaphor seems convoluted, it is most certainly there. And the irony is not lost between the lines of her strange obsession and quick dismissal of the occurrence.
In reading both renditions of "Death of a Moth", I have come to the conclusion that they are both horrifically over analyzed yet well written pieces of literature. In the version coming from the mind of Virginia Woolf, I appreciate her more straight to the point nature. She wastes no time in setting the scene of a night in autumn where you see the moths fluttering. Most interestingly, she considers moths that fly by day to not truly be moths. I would agree to this in that when you think of a moth you envision the flowery creature which slaps its forehead against your window at night with hopes to reach the source of the beautiful light within. I think that what Woolf does a great job of is making us empathize with the moth. There is something about how helpless she portrays the moth to be which gives us no choice but to feel for it. However, I think that we must also consider that this is only a moth. Moths have quite limited brain capacity and I am certain that it was not fearful. It was simply reacting the way that any living organism would to the cold grip of death upon the back of its neck.
ReplyDeleteWhen looking over to the work by Annie Dillard, there is a clear difference between the two pieces of writing. I honestly am very glad that it was not just a repeat performance of the piece by Woolf. I felt that Dillard did much more of a rambling process. She opened with her horrible cleaning habits, and that spider webs have formed in her bathroom. What sick person would not decide it was time to clean their bathroom when there are 16 bug corpses on the floor. That is my initial take away, Dillard is no hygiene expert. I think that she would have had a better story had she focused on the beautiful life of the spider which weaves its shining web. Moving forwards, she begins to fixate on the moths which lay dead on the floor of her putrid bathroom. Much like a child that has seen something shiny from afar, she focuses on this and leaves the thoughts of the spider in the past. The thought of the moth then leads her on a stream of consciousness type writing like you would expect out of Jack Kerouac. She then does a very wordy and unneeded description of where she used to set herself down to read at the end of the day, how nice. We finally get into the part of the writing where the "Death" and the "Moth" meet. I feel that with the writing of Dillard I am LESS empathetic to the moth. Rather than an unsuspecting weak creature that is unable to escape the clutches of death, we find ourselves reading about a brainless creature which has not a shred of self control to keep itself from flying through the burning candle light just as the moth before it had! It is not like these poor moths were torched with a flame thrower; they were flying greedily towards the beautiful light, and paid the price. I do not feel that anyone in their right mind would feel sorry for me or any other village idiot that were dancing around a campfire and then happen to fall in and burn themselves to a crisp! Nope! You would simply brush it off and say "Boy what a moron!" But why can we not do this with a moth? This is because the moth is predisposed to be stupid! We feel sorry for the moth because it is at an unfortunate genetic disadvantage. Rather than declaring the moth a moron for flapping its flammable wings over a fire, we feel badly that its brain is no larger than a piece of dust you would find in your naval. Now tell me, why should we feel sorry for a moth. We are not luring them into a fire. They would do just the same with a naturally made fire. And may I remind you, the moth would give no sympathy to a human which walked into its candle light.
In short, I disliked Woolf's writing less than I disliked Dillard's. I personally believe that I could do a beautiful job writing this story in a different way. From the perspective of the moth!
In "The Death of the Moth" by Virginia Woolf and by Annie Dillard, a moth is examined. Woolf and Dillard have different focuses despite the identical titles. Woolf looks at the moth's fleeting life before its inevitable death. She admires and pities the persistence of the moth to live, even as it is about to die. As she watches the moth's attempt to live, she claims "It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at last in righting himself." She even tries to intervene and help the moth, but stops once she realizes it is too late. The moth is doomed, so no help she gives will really add up in the end. Dillard's approach is different. The moth's life is over in a second, but she lingers on the finality and action of death, rather than the action before death. She repeatedly describes the death of different parts of the body, then laments on what the moth did or did not accomplish in her lifetime post-mortem. I find Woolf's view, though tragic and depressing, much less creepy than Dillard's view. Her relishing in the death of the moth was a bit unsettling, and the lingering on the death of this moth once it has died even more so. I prefer to feel for the moth in its life as much as possible and wouldn't linger so much on its death once passing. In the end, it is a moth and I only knew it for so long.
ReplyDeleteIn the two stories “Death of a Moth” one by Virginia Woolf and the other by Annie Dillard, life and death are described. Each story explains the meaning of life and death. Woolf and Dillard express their own opinions on the matter using a moth. The moth can be seen as a symbol for life in each story which both end with death.
ReplyDeleteVirginia Woolf explains life and death in her piece, “Death of a Moth.” In the story, the narrator doesn't care about the moth until it begins to die. We all live our own lives and do our own things and try not to think about death. Thinking about death is scary and worrisome and personally, even thinking about death makes me anxious. It's hard to know that we all will die at some point with no idea as to what’s next or what will happen. Everyone has a different idea as to what happens but for me that doesn't make it any less scary. Woolf urges the point that we don’t appreciate life for all it is until it’s too late. We don’t like to think about death and take life for granted while pushing away the fact that life isn’t forever. The moth is portrayed as pitiful as it is so small and alone and its life consists of flying back and forth. In spite of these attributes, the moth is also energetic. This causes the narrator to have conflicting views of the moth, “because he was so small, and so simple a form of the energy that was rolling in at the open window and driving its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors in my own brain and in those of other human beings, there was something marvellous as well as pathetic about him.” The moth then begins to slow and his movements become “stiff” and “awkward.” Realizing this, the author tries to help the moth but realizes the moth is dying and no one can help him. Just as in real life, everyone is going to die at some point and there is nothing anyone can do about it. While the moth is dying, the author realizes the moth isn't pitiful. She sees the moth doing everything to try and survive and beat death. Even though we are far more complex than a moth, death is the same. Woolf explains that we need to appreciate our lives and stop searching for “the meaning of life” as we could die at any point. She also explains through the dying moth that we need to fight for our own lives and realize our time is limited.
“Death of a Moth” by Annie Dillard also examines life and death through a moth. Unlike Woolf, Dillard emphasizes the moth after death more so than its actual life. Dillard makes the point that death isn't a certain ending and there is still meaning after death. When the moth flies into the fire, the candle burns even brighter. Even after death, a being still has a sense of importance. By using a moth, Dillard explains that no matter how big or how small or what role you played in society, you will still have a purpose after death. The moths death is graphically described, “At once the light contracted again and the moth’s wings vanished in a fine, foul smoke. At the same time her six legs clawed, curled, blackened, and ceased, disappearing utterly. And her head jerked in spasms, making a spattering noise; her antennae crisped and burned away, and her heaving mouth parts crackled like pistol fire. When it was all over, her head was, so far as I could determine, gone, gone the long way of her wings and legs.” Although some may find the overly obsessive enthesis on the moths death odd, I found it to be interesting. Dillard explains that loss is horrible and causes suffering but this is contrasted with the moth glowing despite dying. The candle glows and brightens. Dillard explains death in a different light, not as negative despite the description of the moths death.
When I read this for these two pieces last year, I cried. Yet, I don't think it was my crippling anxiety of death that did it. It is something much more fragile, impossibly complex. I remember distinctly enjoying Woolf's better last year. I was drawn to, seduced by, the imaginary boundary between life and death. Her intimate description of the bond shared between the body and the soul (and the eventual stillness of both) resonated with the sentimental person that I am. One of the simultaneously beautiful and tragic lines of the essay was “Also when there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what no one else valued of desired to keep, moved one strangely.” There is something enormously powerful in this sentiment, the flickering streetlight inside of all of us that deperantley wants to glow. Also, Woolf was wrong about one thing: She writes “when there was nobody there to care. Well guess what?! Woolf was there! She cares, “This minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder.” I can't believe it took me about 7 times reading this very saddened, amazed, but saddened for me to realize that. And not only does Woolf care, but the thousands of people who have read this care too. We really care, maybe more about this moth than anything else in our day. In the span of writing this blog post, my opinion on this piece has completely flipped. Yes, I still acknowledge the fleetingness of life, but am given hope. This story of one writer who cared about a dying moth can be a metaphor for other things. Death can't be solved (but I’m going to try cryonics when I die so hopefully I’ll be brought back), however the moth can be a represent other perils, they are only helpless until someone starts noticing. The immense beauty of this story is due to the rawness of the narrative. The most beautiful things often come from vulnerability. Woolf writes of this: “There was something marvellous as well as pathetic about him”. He is marvellous because he is pathetic. Humans connect with the ever present presence of uncertainty. We will never be satisfied with being satisfied. Where as the first few times reading Woolf’s Death of Moth was somewhat depressing (not in a bad way, if that makes sense), Dillard’s version made me happy. Maybe this is the social justice warrior in me talking but I want to leave a legacy. Like who doesn't? But I really do. When Dillard writes, “The moth’s head was fire. She burned for two hours, until I blew her out. She burned for two hours without changing, without bending or leaning—only glowing within, like a building fire glimpsed through silhouetted walls,” That is such a poetic way of putting it, the need to be remembered, to somehow achieve eternal life. And back there when I said “the social justice warrior in me talking”, I take that back, I think we should all want to leave a pure, good legacy. Let this moth head candle stick be our muse.
ReplyDeleteAs I read both essays for the second time or so, I picked up on a theme that had to do with shape. I made lists of all the lines that had something to do with a shape. There were 2 main groups that I picked up on. The first had to do with boxes and edges, which came from the lines like:
ReplyDelete“scoring the field opposite the window,”
“fly to a third corner and then to a fourth,”
“in a corner behind the toilet, connecting tile wall to tile wall,”
“sitting under a tree by my tent.”
The second group had to do with circles and roundness:
“soaring round the tree tops,”
“where my light made a ring,”
“enlarging the circle of light in the clearing,”
“her abdomen and thorax—a fraying, partially collapsed gold tube jammed upright in the candle’s round pool,”
“thorax to the jagged hole where her head should be,”
The square-like shapes were used when describing confinement. The window, the walls, and the tent all indicate a structure that one stays inside or on one side of, but is not truly connected to what’s on the other side. I think that these shapes represent the ways in which we are trapped by death. We live, knowing that we are going to die, and when we confine ourselves to the box, we only look at death as an end. But, the round shapes exemplify just the opposite. The rings and circles of light express the other perspective of death; One that is a cycle that always spins, even if we can no longer feel the momentum. The rooks soaring round the tree tops indicate that they are exposed to the light of the sky as opposed to the darkness in the forest down below. The curvature shows that maybe life and death are not two different things. Perhaps Woolf refers to a circle when she says “the thought of all that life might have been had he been born in any other shape caused one to view his simple activities with a kind of pity.” She says that a square death would have only let the moth bounce around in the window pane, but the circular mix of life and death allowed for her to see the moth as more than just the feeble insect it is. When Dillard references the isopods (rollie-pollies), she also differs between the straight and curved by saying that they “live to travel flat out in houses, and die round.” Their round death indicates that their essence carries on with the cycle, as opposed to just halting at a wall. The main message of the Death of a Moth comes from Woolf’s line, “thread of vital light became visible.” She says that before the moth died, there was an instant where it knew it was going to die, but whether or not it would be square or circular would depend on how the moth interpreted the thread. Woolf shows us through the death of the moth that we all have the ability to perceive life and death the way we please, and that our life will only be complete once we allow ourselves to join the cycle.
This is not my first time being presented with these two texts, and yet when reading through them I was again struck with the power and beauty they held. Each one takes the same idea, and yet they are totally different. In Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth”, Woolf takes the reader on a journey, exploring the meaning of life and the struggle it entails, all through a simple description of a moth’s final moments. Initially, it's just a moth, just a “day moth”, hardly fit to even be called a moth at all. And yet, as the narrator watches, this moth comes to represent “little or nothing but life”. He is not just a symbol that Woolf implies to represent life, he is explicitly stated to be it's physical embodiment by the narrator. And at the end of the story, he ends up dead, succumbing to the mean antagonist of death. However, this is where Woolf’s most important commentary comes in. For, despite the swift approach of death, this moth struggles to right itself briefly, and succeeds. In this final act, the moth finds peace, and Woolf shows the importance of the struggle that is life. Everybody knows that one day, be it soon or far, death will come for them. And yet, it is in these small acts that are filled with life, that defy the cold inevitability of death, where happiness and redemption can be found. This is a beautiful lesson she offers the reader.
ReplyDeleteDillard on the other hand, takes a far different route. She explores the same event “The Death of the Moth”, but from a different angle. Instead of emphasizing the life of the moth before it's death, she emphasizes the “life” of the moth after death. After being caught in a candle, this moths body does not simple burn, instead it turns into a vessel for flame, “the jagged hole where her head should be...widened into fame, a saffron-yellow flame that rober her to the ground like any immolating monk”(Dillard). Dillard is focused on the wild fervor with which one must live, saying “You must go at your life with a broadax”, and implies that this is the result: a legacy that burns brightly for a long time to come. There is beauty in such a philosophy as well. It is a mad dash through life, living while one can, and in death may one leave behind something to be proud of, and to be remembered by. Each has a similar philosophy, believing in the inevitability of death, yet also in the importance of what one can do in spite of this.
These are two very interesting takes on the topic “Death of a Moth.” While both are deep in their symbolic meanings, I preferred the interpretation by Virginia Woolf to that of Annie Dillard. Woolf writes of a moth clinging to life on a windowsill, struggling until the last moment to remain alive until finally, it is overtaken by death. Woolf describes the scene with a tone of empathy and sadness as life leaves the moth’s body, as life will leave everyone’s body eventually. It is this symbolism that makes this piece important. We will all die. Death is stronger than any living being, and though it is natural to fight until the last breath, it will always win. Humans are as small and as insignificant as a moth in the face of death, and life goes on around us in the grand scheme of things after we pass. It is interesting to consider that Woolf would write about fighting death until the final moment knowing that she would go on to commit suicide. She gave up her fight with death before the final moment. Perhaps her intended purpose was not to simply state that humans are weaker than death, but rather that there is no point in fighting it. Her description of the moth in its final moments is such a heartbreaking image of a creature with no one to care for it, of life continuing on oblivious to its struggle, that I can understand her desperation and depression.
ReplyDeleteDillard’s approach was a bit different. She begins by talking about dead moths on the floor of her bathroom, which remind her of the moths that flew into her candle while she was out camping several years back. Moths are attracted to light, but in this case, that light is the very thing that kills them. In a similar way to Woolf’s essay, the behavior of the moth can be related back to that of humans: giving in to certain desires can lead to a person’s downfall. Like the moth that burns up in the light which it wanted so badly to draw nearer to, a person can burn themselves should they give into greed. Perhaps it is a new job which will pay better than the last but has no security- expect to be without income at all in a few weeks. Perhaps it is a cheaper brand of a product you’ve always purchase- it will be lower quality. The moth Dillard writes of continues to burn as a wick in the candle long after she initially ignited, much like human greed can have long lasting repercussions. Also, Dillard notes that the reason she can identify the moth corpses on her bathroom floor is because of her time spent watching a moth burn in her candle. Once again, this relates back to humans because the aftermath of a careless action is often enough to identify the initial mistake. The final paragraph of Dillard’s essay is what pulls everything together: she says that as a writer she has spent so much time studying “moths,” or people in states of distress that she can recognize things the way they are.
While I was very unsettled by these two pieces, I was intrigued by the way the authors made the life of such a small creature seem so meaningful. I connected to this aspect of the writings as I often overthink the consequences of seemingly small actions, especially with animals or bugs. I cannot kill a spider because as I attempt to I think of its life and how I would be ending it, even if the spider may not be aware of it. I think similar to Annie Dillard’s writing in that I think of exactly how the spider would feel as it’s being crushed to death. The same reasoning is applicable to why I am a vegetarian.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I also thought that these pieces showed the value of life. Because both writings were written in such an upsetting manner, it lead me to think of how life should be cherished, as I attempted to have a more positive take away. Bugs are a perfect example of living a short but meaningful life, as they never know when they could be squashed by a shoe. As people, we assume we have plenty of time and often forget to be living as if we could be “squashed by a shoe” at any moment. It is often difficult for people to find time to live like this though, as they are too busy taking actions for their futures. As a high school senior in the process of applying for colleges, it often seems like everything I do is for my future. It is important to be able to find a balance between working toward a desired future and living every moment like you could be “squashed by a shoe” the next.
Both of these essays explored the significance of life and death. Using a moth to demonstrate the complexities of life and death and the struggle we experience grappling with the two. Woolf’s piece emphasized the energy of life and the strict inevitability of death. Initially, I appreciated this perspective of death but disagreed with it. Personally, I prefer to see the inescapable death that faces every living being in a more positive light. But in thinking more about Woolf’s message, I realized that she was illustrating my way of grappling with death which is to live life freely and not worry about the uncontrollable aspects of the future. Much of my ability to live this way can be credited to a quote from The Atlantic called “On 9/11, luck meant everything.” The quote is loosely translated from Spanish and says, “It’s impossible for you to die on the eve of your death. You only die when you have to die. You’re never close to death. You die or you’re alive.” Woolf says, “death is stronger than I am.” Initially, this appeared to be very negative in my eyes but in re-reading the piece, I understand that there is nothing other than my bias that points to death as a negative in this piece. Woolf is being frank with the reader, urging them to do what many can’t and confront the inevitability of death in order to live a more fulfilling life. Dillard’s piece focuses more on death itself rather than the life before it. I felt much less empathetic towards the moth in this piece. Woolf showed the hopelessness of death but concentrated it with the energy of life. Dillard did not show the moth as weak or helpless, rather not smart enough to avoid the flame. In Dillard’s piece, death seems more final and meaningless. I prefer Woolf's piece of Dillards. Woolf's evoked more emotions whereas Dillard's was more cold and creepy. Moth’s are not creatures often well liked or cared for. In some ways, they are view as insignificant so it is very interesting that both authors used this creature to explain such a complex topic.
ReplyDeleteI first read Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf and was confused. I would reread each couple of lines over and over again to better comprehend what was going on. But when I finished reading, I believed that I understood what Virginia Woolf was trying to get across. Death will arrive on everyone, and there is nothing anyone can do to stop it. Towards the middle and end of the piece, there were multiple instances where this was true. For example, when Virginia Woolf says “I laid the pencil down again,” Woolf shows that she understood that even if she used the pencil to lift the moth, death would still take over, the pencil would do nothing. At the end of the piece, when Woolf says “death is stronger than I am.” By saying this, she expresses to the audience that nothing stops for death.
ReplyDeleteBut when I read Death of a Moth by Annie Dillard, I was totally unaware of what Dillard was trying to get across. Though the english was “easier” in this piece and there were fewer metaphors, the disruptions(changes in time) made me lost. Also, the way Dillard described the moth was unlike the way Woolf described the moth. Dillard talked about specific parts of the moth, like the “thorax.” lighting on fire and this created more disruption in mind. By the time I got to the end, I only had a vague idea of what it was that that Dillard was trying to get across.
The first time I read through Death of a Moth I felt sad. It is upsetting to think about death in such a blatant manner. I feel like most people avoid the topic all together or at least skirt around it as much as possible. We say things like “pass away” or “no longer with us” to make it seems less harsh. I think that’s why this can be so jarring at first. It is really weird and eerie to talk about death like this. It made me think a lot about fate and how death is inevitable. Everyone is heading to the same place at the end of it all. We are all living different lives but heading to the same place. We are looking at the moths like these poor helpless creatures who are flying into the fire with no control. But I wonder if there is something thinking the same thing about humans. We think the moths should avoid the fire but maybe they can’t, they don’t have the capacity to understand their imminent death. Maybe we’re all doing the same thing too. While this all comes off as very dark, I feel like it is comforting in a way. If we think of death as a destination rather than an end, it seems a lot less scary. The moths are still going to fly into the fire and we're all going to die eventually. There are actions we can take to avoid it and prolong life, but at the end of the day, that's where we are all heading and once it is accepted it isn’t such an ominous thing
ReplyDelete“The Death of a Moth” by Virgina Woolf comments on the natural progression of life. Suddenly the world is booming with such a zest and power, it illuminates every little thing. Eventually this beam of life is forced to face tough situations, some all too powerful to overcome. Woolf explains this with her extended metaphor of a moth that is trying to fly into the outside, through a window is shut. Woolf extreme description of the natural word highlights its beauty and intricate unknowns. Returning to the trapped moth, it struggles against the shut window trying to break through. As the moth tires, Virgina starts to feel pity and feels obligated to help the moth. But she stops, the pure bead of life is not to be pitied. It would be useless to try to help the moth, though life is not to be hopeless. For the moth has put a strong effort, and have such worn itself into death, as death is stronger than it. We must come to understand that life is not to be a stage of constant fear or a fight, but that to live to understand that eventually we all die, and that our bead of pure life will eventually be overcome by death.
ReplyDeleteAnnie Dillard’s “Death of A Moth” is strikingly different from the works of Virgina Woolf’s. Dillard is alone in her house, no one as company, but just a spider in her bathroom, though she kills the moth. I guess she prefers spiders over moths. And why should she kill or even remove the spider, the spider has made quite a comfortable home in her bathroom, pleasantly living. Dillard shows a small fascination with the shells of the entrapped bugs that spider has feasted upon. Others would hesitate to get a closer look, but she is intrigued by the form and shapes of the hollow bugs. In a particulier instance a moth is caught in her candle flame, the wings, head and legs fry up into dust, and the body blackens but remains caught upright in the candle. The fame pushed out of the body and continue to burn. This new flame assembled and burned with such strength, coming right from within the moth. I am brought back to the quote at the very start of the story “the moth I helped kill”, for the moth, though physically dead, its essence kept burning and aiding Dillaird in her reading until she blew it out swifty. I feel Dillard is trying to explain that we should not settle with what we have done when we are physically in the world but continue to create and hold power even when death eventually comes, for we are possible of more than we can imagine.
In Virginia Woolf's version of death of a moth, it reminded me of suicide and mental illness. In the last section, she talks about the moth dancing, darting side by side and flying around, but then there is a sharp turn. The moth stops, settles on the window sill and struggles to find energy and continue to fly. The narrator tries to help the moth, but they soon realize that the moth is dying and there isn't any reason to help. When people don't see any physical cause of pain or suffering, they let the person be, they don't try to help, they either are round for moral support or just let the person struggling wither away and figure it out on their own. The persons mental strength eventually deteriorates and they either are in a permanent state of being numb to the world or commiting suicide. On the other side of things, Annie Dillard's take on “Death of a Moth” she gave the moth a new life. The moth had an accidental, but still tragic death, but the moth became one with the candle and ignited a new flame. Unlike the moth in the first story, the moth wanted to live, it wanted to have that spark and continue to glow and refused to burn out until it was forced to.
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