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Teaching A Stone By Dillard Writes

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Teaching a Stone to Talk Pg. 9-64 Instead of writing one complete novel, Dillard writes many small short stories recounting various personal narratives. It is called “Total Eclipse” and it is about a couple that go to see a total eclipse 5 hours from the Washington coast. The way Dillard compares something as simple as crossing the mountains in their car to the death of someone. Also her use of imagery allows me to have an accurate picture of the hotel room and the painting of the clown. Throughout the first story the theme seemed to be about experiencing a moment. Dillard used the eclipse to illustrate this perfectly. The speaker had seen eclipses before but never in person. Almost 3-4 pages are devoted to explaining and describing the event. During the eclipse the speaker gives the reader information surrounding it. I personally enjoyed the comparison between the relationship between a partial and total eclipse to the relationship of kissing and marrying a man.“‘It can never be satisfied, the mind, never’”(24) I particularly enjoyed this quote because of how true it is. The mind has a thirst for knowledge that can never be quenched always wanting to dive deeper, climb higher and know more. The second is called “An Expedition to the Pole”, the first half of it is split between two seemingly unrelated stories. One about the north and south poles while the other talks about someone who points out the problems with the catholic beliefs. Later a third section is brought in

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