Annie Dillard Living Like Weasels Summary

Annie Dillard’s essay “Living Like Weasels” exhibits the mindless, unbiased, and instinctive ways she proposes humans should live by observing a weasel at a nearby pond close to her home. Dillard encounters about a sixty second gaze with a weasel she seems to entirely connect with. In turn, this preludes a rapid sequence of questions and propositions about “living as we should”. Unfortunately, we tend to consume our self with our surroundings and distractions in life, which is not a problem until we are blatantly told. How have we strayed so far from our once instinctive lifestyle?

Annie Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels” details Dillard’s encounter with a weasel in the wild, and her attempts to come to terms with her feelings about said meeting. Dillard not only goes into great detail about the experience itself, but she also provides a very good background on weasels, as well as others’ experiences with the animal. Through her use of background analysis on weasels, as well as with her own experience, Dillard uses the three rhetorical appeals to argue why we humans could and should “live like weasels”.

In “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard, I believe “The weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice,” is one of the core ideas discussed in the essay. This made me think about humans’ current situation, as compared to the weasel’s day-to-day life of acquiring necessities. Although Annie Dillard speaks towards living in necessity and against choice, I believe our so-called “choice” came from humans’ past achievements, innovations in technology, and development in thought. Humans weren’t born with choice, we also were living in necessity for some time near the origination of humans. I interpret living in necessity as living solely for oxygen, food, water, shelter, and sleep. But others may interpret it differently, as the term “necessity”

Next, I will discuss the events that occur in Dillard’s essay that cause her to believe humans should act more like weasels do. In the beginning, Annie (Dillard) is about twenty minutes from her house, in the woods by the quarry. Annie arrives at Hollins Pond, otherwise known as Murray’s Pond, which is a two acre, six inch deep of water pond containing thousands of

In “Living Like Weasels,” author Annie Dillard’s idea is that humans can benefit from living wild as a weasel. I strongly agree because to live wild like a weasel is to live mindless, free and focused. With these living abilities we as humans will be able get closer to our aspirations in life and do whatever means necessary to get there.

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, An American Childhood, The Writing Life, Teaching a Stone to Talk, The Living, The Maytrees, Holy The Firm etc are some of her well known writings. She has also written some essays. “Seeing” is one of them. In this essay, Annie Dillard descrives about

While not very intelligent, weasels have many skills human desire. In living like weasels, Annie Dillard describes the first time she saw weasel and the odd encounter she had with it. Annie first saw the weasel just after sundown, while leaning against a tree. Annie was watching a bird fly around her and when the bird flew behind her, Annie turned around and saw the weasel. The two made eye contact and Annie described it as if ”two lovers, or deadly enemies met unexpectedly on an overgrown path” the two just looked into each others eyes and perhaps got a glimpse of what the other was thinking. When the connection broke, Annie felt the desire to be a weasel or at least live like them. Although many of us have the desire to be something we’re

The artist has been a mystery to many of us: unexplainably driven in his work; seemingly unconcerned with any other aspects of his life; often oblivious to the world around him. The artists in Nathaniel Hawthorne's "The Artist of the Beautiful," Barbara Pollack's "Stitches in time," and Carl Jung's "The Spirit in Man, Art, and Literature" represent some or all of these characteristics. I decided to base this paper on these readings because I found the ideas presented in them interesting and worth exploring.

Generally showing how one is uncertain to going into something new until they move out of their boundaries and finally get use to the “newness”. Furthermore, Dickinson shows the affect of finally moving out of this dome called uncertanity by stating, “But as they learn to see – Either the Darkness Alters- Or something in the sight adjust itself to midnight- And life almost steps straight.” (Dickinson 16-20).

In the excerpt, Death of a Moth, by Annie Dillard, she attempts to overcome her writer's block by getting away from it all and taking a trip into the Mountains of Virginia. While taking time off, she intends to spiritually find her true self again and get back on a successful track. Only by using concrete imagery, drawing a strong parallel, and meticulously selecting a certain word choice to create points of clarity, is she able to effectively convey her inner struggle.

In "Living like Weasels", author Annie Dillard uses rhetorical devices to convey that life would be better lived solely in a physical capacity, governed by "necessity", executed by instinct. Through Dillard 's use of descriptive imagery to indulge her audience, radical comparisons of nature and civilization, and anecdotal evidence, this concept is ultimately conveyed.

Anderson accomplishes the discernment of Dickinson’s poems and their allusions to many classic myths. He denotes the figurative language that Dickinson utilizes in her poetry to relate to her themes. With these key elements in mind, Anderson is then able to compare Dickinson’s works to other authors who have tried to reach the same goals, however, Dickinson is able to better achieve the extrapolation of the myths through her profound and truly exquisite writing.

Annie Dillard’s “This is the Life”, an addition to the publication of “A Journal of Art and Religion”, Dillard persuades the readers to ponder the purpose of their lives. Dillard provokes self-contemplation through asking and repeating rhetorical questions and phrases, illusions that support her point, and an inspirational didactic tone.

One of the most prevalent subject matters in Emily Dickinson’s poetry is the power of the natural world. The strong connections between the speaker and the natural world that arise in Dickinson’s poetry distinguishes her as one of the most transcending poets of her time. Above all, we see that an individual can confidently have a multitude of different relationships with the natural world. This idea that individuals can immerse themselves into the natural world is challenged in Jennifer Chang’s poetry. The speakers in Chang’s collection of poems Some Say the Lark find themselves repeatedly being turned-away by the natural world, unable to escape into the mysterious environment Dickinson glorifies in her poetry. The connection between an individual and their environment seems to come naturally in Dickinson’s poems, whereas in Chang’s poem, achieving this connection is a constant battle, nearly unattainable. By highlighting an individual’s struggle to submerge themselves into the natural world, Chang complicates the ideas Dickinson presents in her poetry. Despite this complication of ideas, Chang can be seen as a friend from the future to Dickinson because glimpses of Dickinson’s poetic influence shine through Chang’ work.

“The moth shook its sodden clumps of wing” (Dillard 160). A quote as powerful as this one captures the depth of Dillard's views, which have a crippling effect on her outlook towards life. Dillard’s environment is similar to that of the moth’s, a limited amount of space to grow and prosper. Growth is a factor Dillard sees as extremely important in life, as she tries to learn a vast amount of information. Dillard has experiences in her memoir that mold who she is and what she has become. In many ways, I too reflect on similar experiences that mold who I am and what I have become overtime. Dillard and I experience a crippling environment and a pursuit to try and learn everything.