Annie Dillard Living Like The Weasel Analysis

In Annie Dillard “Living like the Weasel” she portrays the weasel as a cute little critter. But in reality, they are a murderous little critter. The weasels are a creature that she describes “can kill more bodies than he can eat warm.” (Dillard, Par. 1). The weasel are predators to their own set of preys like the rabbits, mice and birds. They sneak on their prey and when they have their prey right where they want them, the weasel strikes with ruthless efficiency. Annie Dillard describes it saying the weasel “bites his prey at the neck, either splitting the jugular vein at the throat or crunching the brain at the base of the skull, and he does not let go.” (Dillard, Par. 2) The way she portrays the weasel way of killing their prey makes it sound like the weasel is more a wild, murderous animal then a cute little cuddly critter.

Compare to Michael Pollan article “Love and Lies” he speaks about the orchid flower and how it deceives male bees by mimicking the appearance of a nectar flower

It was the first time she had seen a wild one. Dillard speaks on the appearance of the weasel with vivid details saying “he was ten inches long, thin as a curve, a muscled ribbon. Brown as fruitwood, soft-furred, alert.” (Dillard, Par. 8) The imagery she uses to describe the weasel shows how close she was to the critter that she can describe the critter in great detail. What's was most interesting about Dillard observation on the critter is how she felt when she locked eyes with the weasel. She explains how it was like they were in each other heads. “I tell you I’ve been in that weasel brain for sixty seconds and he was in mine.” (Dillard, Par. 12) According to this, it seems that Dillard experience a strong connection to the weasel. That they were both experiencing each other emotions in those sixty seconds and connected to each other in a way that they were lost in each other