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Analyzing Annie Dillard's Essay 'Seeing'

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In her essay “Seeing,” Annie Dillard is trying to show us a different way of perceiving things, or “seeing,” things. She wants readers to slow down and take the time to actually see what they are looking at. She believes that readers will find a million little delightful details if only they could learn how to step away from the generalizations that have been formed in their minds. She captures the essence of what she is trying to convey with her quote, “There are lots of things to see, unwrapped gifts and free surprises” (17), which carries readers back to the beginning of her essay and the pennies that she would leave for whomever would take the time to find them. She believes that nature is full of free gifts for everyone to discover. With the statement of, “But if you cultivate a healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally make your day, then, since the world is in fact planted in pennies, you have with your poverty brought a lifetime of days. It is that simple. What you see is what you get” (17) Dillard is saying that if the reader has the ability to perceive things in her manner, and view each little shape, color and object as a gift, that the reader will be rich in happiness. …show more content…

Her intensity is hard to deny, making it difficult for the reader to do anything other than step outside themselves to see what happiness they can take from the same nature that they look at every day by perceiving it differently. Although Dillard seems to babble her way through her adventures, she has a way of capturing the reader and pulling them into her way of perceiving the things she is “seeing.” She stops to live in the moment, and although her ability to find happiness would be a delightful ability to have, the reality of the world is that few people rarely

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