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Comparing Nature And Dillard's

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Americans will always be surrounded by nature. From this constant immersion in nature, there is much to learn. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s piece, “Nature”, and Annie Dillard’s piece, “Living Like Weasels”, develop this idea in more depth. While they take two distinct approaches, incorporating different tones and separate methods of learning from nature, both authors come to the conclusion that if Americans open their minds to the experience, Nature has an abundance to offer the world. Emerson believes that the natural world and human nature are interconnected. To convey this idea to the audience, Emerson presumes that “the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or the harmony of both” (207). His light words establish …show more content…

However, unlike Emerson’s poetical tone, Dillard uses a more casual, first person account to deliver this idea. Dillard recalls the first time when she personally encountered nature: “I walked to the pond … watching lily pads at my feet … It caught my eye; .. I was looking down at a weasel, who was looking up at me” (5). A real story of interactions with nature proves to the audience that something like this could happen to someone like them. While Emerson shows the audience the calm side of nature, Dillard describes a more violent approach. Through first person accounts, she tell of how a weasel’s skull was found attached to a bird’s throat. What one can learn from this encounter is to find what means the most in life and “not let it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you” (Dillard 14). By living like the weasel, one can find the will to fight for life. In comparison to Emerson’s beliefs about a childlike mind, Dillard also agrees in having an open mind. At first, she thinks nature has nothing to offer the human race, “I don’t think I can learn from a wild animal how to live in particular … but I might learn something of mindlessness…” (Dillard 11). Through this change in mind, Dillard comes to realize that by observing nature, there is much to learn about the meaning of life. If only one opens up to the idea of learning from an animal, nature

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