Comment below with your insights on these two essays with similar titles.
Death of a Moth by Annie Dillard
Death of the Moth by Virginia Woolf
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Annie Dillard: Death of A Moth
Dillard’s “Death of a Moth” had a very casual and laid back feel to it, as well her having an odd fascination with not just moths, but animals in general. For example, when most people see a spider their first instinct would be to kill it but instead, Dillard lets it live in the corner of her bathroom. “There is a spider, too, in the bathroom, of uncertain lineage, bulbous at the abdomen and drab, whose six-inch mess of web works, works some how, works miraculously, to keep her alive and me amazed”. This sentence shows her interest with the creatures, but then it makes me think that she keeps these animals alive because…
The Death of a Moth: Annie Dillard
This story is stocked full of detail from beginning it end. It is clear from the first few sentences that the narrator has a fascination with animals, and then this fascination later translates into bugs specifically as the story goes on. As I was reading this story, I kept trying to figure out where the narrator was going with their love of bugs. Why did they sit and watch them so intently? I can’t say that I am a fan of bugs, therefore, I was having a hard time trying to relate to someone who was so intrigued by even the slightest of their movements. At one point in the story the narrator…
Death of A Moth - Annie Dillard
I enjoyed Dillard's read Death of A Month because of the lightness it portrayed of the situation. She opens with a casual beginning, describing her living situation and the different organisms who live in her house although they are not other humans. The fact that she lets a spider live in the corner of her bathroom say a lot about her as a person: that she is kind, not aggressive, and finds no threat by spiders the way the rest of us might. Her description of the moth's death seems very factual; she does not dwell on the moth's death and even her title's choice of the word "a" instead of "the" shows…
Death of a Moth- Annie Dillard/ Virginia Woolf
Annie Dillard elaborates on the death of a moth in great detail. It is strangely interesting how the death of a moth was seemingly entertaining to her. When Annie first encountered the Moth in her home, her reaction to the moths existence was disturbed. For instance, she states “I wonder on what fools errand an earwig, or a moth, or a sow bug would visit that clean corner of the house behind the toilet. It is apparent that the moths death provided a form of relief for Annie. She was strangely fascinated by the process of the moth's death. Her tone cool, calm and collective. As for Woolf, she is seemingly on…
Dillard's piece was much more straightforward and emotionless compared to Woolf's piece. This isn't the first time I've read Woolf's "Death of the Moth" and every time I come back to it I feel like Woolf might by talking about a person instead of a moth, that she's projecting this death unto a common insect that most have seen die. Dillard's gives off the vibe that death of a moth is just another cog in the wheel of life and that it isn't anything spectacular whereas Woolf gives the moth a eulogy.