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Summary Of Death Of A Moth By Annie Dillard

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Death; one of the strongest words in the english language next to love. Death is always seen as a terrible thing, that bring darkness and sorrow to those around it; however, the way the author Annie Dillard has used in the amazing essay of “Death Of A Moth” gives Death a whole different meaning. As Dillard writes about the death of this moth her use of description, her changing tone, and her purpose for this essay brings life to the essay and changes the meaning of death forever.
Firstly, throughout the essay she often changes her tone from being very serious and mono tone, to being enlightened and amazed. Dillard uses this often, but the change from paragraph 7 to 8 is immense:
“One night a moth flew into the candle, was caught, burnt …show more content…

She kept burning.” she later says “a saffron-yellow flame that robed her to the ground like any immolating monk.”
From this you can tell that her whole thought on this dying moth changed once she saw the beauty in this death, and also showed her even when someone dies, they burn in your mind forever: “ She burned for two hours without changing”. She uses this tone change to show how amazed she was, and how her whole ideal of death had changed once she had seen this marvelous event. Secondly, Dillard use description thoroughly throughout the essay; the whole essay in itself is description to show the true detail she took into watching this death and how changing it was for Dillard:
“She burned for two hours without changing, without bending or leaning-only glowing within, like a building fire glimpsed virgin gone to God, while I read by her light, kindled, while Rimbaud in Paris burnt out his brains in a thousand poems, while night pooled wetly at my …show more content…

Dillards purpose is the most important part of this essay, it’s to show that even in death someone can be beautiful, and they will burn in our memories forever. This meaning or purpose is very hidden in the essay, but it is found when she describes how the moth lights up, and how she “burns for two hours” just like one would burn in our memories. She is very plain and sad, but when she saw the beauty of the moth and its flame she was amazed and no longer sad about the death; she appreciated the moth more this way just like how we appreciate someone more after they are gone. The author uses something simple like a moth but the true meaning of this essay is much deeper then it

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