Essay Questions from Essay Readings
Annie Dillard gives us a vivid description of the place where she came across a weasel. She gives the length of time it would take for one to get to the place. She also gives other features that are in the vicinity, for example, the quarry, Hollin’s Pond also known as the Murray’s Pond, and a highway. She also gives us a further description of the pond, its shallowness, how it is during the winter, and the water lilies in the water (Ackley 126, pp 2 & 3). She uses all these to give the reader the whole picture of the place she was in at that time. It makes the readers feel as they were there with her. It is used to capture the readers’ attention in order to pass the message intended. The description also helps the writer bring out her true feelings to the reader. She is able to express herself to the reader without fear as though one was watching a movie rather than reading a book.
The writer also vividly explains the very moment when he met eye to eye with the weasel. She tells us that she had just crossed the highway, continues to give a description of the place she went through, tells us that the sun had just set (evening time); she was standing at the tree trunk and watching the lily pads (Ackley 126, pp 4 & 5). The whole of this description is to give the reader the exact moment, impression and thoughts that were taking place when she met the weasel. It is as if the reader was there with the writer. It helps the reader to capture the moment in their minds. It also gives a wider knowledge of the environment that weasels are normally found. As mentioned earlier, such vivid description keeps the reader more and more interested in the book and keeps him/her in a toned way of thinking rather than a vague description that makes the reader imagine widely.
The writer also uses metaphors in many places. For instance, she uses the pronoun “he” to refer to the weasel instead of “it” (Ackley 125, pp 1). She has also used some words to describe the weasel’s actions as though it was human. There is a part that she says “who knows what he thinks?” (Ackley 125, pp1). This makes the reader look at the weasel at another point of view instead of just observing it as an animal. The reader intends us to learn from the weasel’s character and behavior. When she uses the pronoun “he” instead of “it”, the reader is able to identify with the weasel more easily. It also breaks the tension in the story as we view the weasel as a “human being”. That there are characters the animal has that resemble the ones in a human being or could at least be adapted by the humans.
The writer also uses paradox statements in his works. For example, she says, “I could very calmly go wild. I could live two days in a den, curled, leaning on mouse fur, sniffing bad bones…” (Ackley 127, pp 5). This is used to get the reader’s attention. It is used to drive the writer’s point that there is a character in the weasel that she so wished she could adapt. This statement also explains the thoughts that were going through the writer. She has regrets of how she lives her life and so she is willing to adapt a thing or two in the weasel’s life. The reader is able to understand the writer’s feelings more and her thoughts through such paradoxes and statements. She can identify where she is coming from in the way she gives the weasel a key interest. She also gets the readers attention to make them understand a thing or two they could learn from the animal.
Works Cited
Ackley, Katherine Anne. Essays from contemporary culture, 5th edition. Youngstown, OH: Thomson/Henle, 2003. Print.
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