“What good is the warmth of summer, without the cold of winter to give it sweetness?” These words of John Steinbeck perfectly illustrate the necessity of contrast in the world to give meaning to one’s life. Just like Steinbeck, Annie Dillard uses specific contrasts to depict her world view before and after the total eclipse. In the beginning of Dillard’s essay, “Total Eclipse”, she described “sliding down the mountain pass” to get to her hotel in central Washington. As she observed her surroundings of the drive, she made the simile of being like “a diver in the rapture of the deep who plays on the bottom while his air runs out.”
“Home is where the heart is” (Unknown). Meaning how homes are made of families and love. In the novle Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech, Sal changes due to the settings, Bybanks, Kentucky, Euclid, Ohio, and Lewiston, Idaho. Bybanks is important to Sal because that is where her old home was. The author uses Sals thoughts to show how Bybanks is important to her, “...he did not bring the chestnut tree, the willow, the maple, the hay loft, or the swimming hole, which all belonged to me” (Creech 1).
In the essay titled, “Total Eclipse” by Annie Dillard, Dillard uses the experience of viewing the total eclipse to express the author’s state of mind. She creates a dramatic effect in order to emphasize the inner changes we all go through. Dillard uses metaphors and imagery to reveal internal changes and battles the narrator experiences. Although, the author’s changes are internal, she uses the external world through literary devices to convey the darkness of humanity, rebirth of the narrator, and hope of change.
From the beginning, Annie Dillard mentions how the eclipse was unique. She does this by stating how the sky “deepened to indigo.” When she mentions the color of the sky, she also emphasizes that it was “never seen.” Dillard's very detailed description of the eclipse makes it very clear that it was awesome. She makes it seem that she was out of this world.
In the beginning of the essay, Dillard uses simile and compares the arrival to their destination as “like the death of someone”, she also describes the feeling as “sliding into the region of dread”, ”slipping into fever” or “falling down the hole in sleep from which you wake yourself whimpering”. Here, she compares her feelings to “death”, “dread”, “fever” and “falling down a hole”, which are not some conventional things that a writer would compare to the feelings one feels in waiting to the witness of a total eclipse. By making these bizarre comparisons, the author has successfully emphasized her anticipation for the total eclipse, which further highlights the magnificence of the cosmic phenomenon of a total eclipse. Also by comparing her feelings to common sensations or experiences that people would understand, Dillard shows the readers how just a single natural event can bring such a great impact to humans, which again emphasize the universe’s vastness as oppose to the silliness and insignificant of
She explains that you don’t always have to see to really be able to see something. Dillard shows this by talking about darkness and her experience with it as she stayed at the creek late. During her time outside late, she reveals that although she was not able to see clearly, she was still able to describe clearly what she was hearing. “I couldn’t see whether that sere rustle I heard was a distant rattlesnake, slit-eyed, or a nearby sparrow kicking in the dry flood debris slung at the foot of a willow.” Even if she could not see, she could feel herself “spinning 836 miles an hour round the earth’s axis” and when she closed her eyes, she could still “see stars, deep stars giving way to deeper stars, deeper stars bowing to deepest stars at the crown of an infinite
Immediately, Annie utilizes imagery to encapsulate the feeling of wonder and amazement in seeing a solar eclipse. “Now the sky to the west deepened to Indigo,” Annie writes in paragraph 1, “a color never seen.” Annie also mentions the alpenglow that you would see on a large mountain. In the story “Total Eclipse” by Annie Dillard, the author utilizes a heap of figurative language to encapsulate the feeling she went through during a solar eclipse, and the hopes of sharing that experience with those lucky enough to read her story. Later in the passage, Annie described that “the sun was going, and the world was wrong.”
Total Eclipses are incredible events that bring awe to anyone who witnesses them. A passage written by Annie Dillard illustrates this phenomenon by sharing her experience with a total eclipse. She shows her true awe in these experiences through utter shock, fear, and confusion in a wonderful, descriptive manner. Annie Dillard emits a true feeling of awe beginning in the second paragraph when she states, “I missed my own century, the people I knew, and the real light of day.” This displays her sincere awe by showing her confusion and fear as she is present in this strange moment.
”Awe “ can be defined in different ways as in the Oxford English Dictionary. “ awe “ is a feeling of reverential respect mixed with fear of wonder. In this passage Annie Dillard states her “awe “ within imagery or metaphor. In the passage Annie Dillard uses imagery in an authentic way to convey her “awe”.
In Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse," the narrator's profound sense of awe toward the eclipse is palpable through her evocative descriptions and introspective reflections. One striking example of this awe is found when the narrator observes the sky deepening to a hue of indigo never before seen. This color, described as "saturated" and "unworldly," captivates the narrator's attention and underscores the extraordinary nature of the celestial event unfolding before her. Against the backdrop of Mount Adams with the alpenglow upon it, the indigo sky creates a scene of sublime beauty and transcendence. The narrator's exclamation to "look at Mount Adams" serves as a fleeting attempt to share the overwhelming magnificence of the moment with another
Twilight Project was such a remarkable performance which performed by the Bellevue College students and faculty/staff. A reading of selections from Twilight Los Angeles 1992 by Anna Deavere Smith. It was about many years ago when black people did not have equal rights the same as white people. All the portions of the performance were so interesting for me, but one part was emotional and very sad when Mrs. June Park (wife of a gunshot victim, Walter Park) explained how she was disappointed and worried about her husband gunshot story. In my opinion, fighting for social justice is one of the most important subjects to think about.
This is does not only apply to the sky; it also pertains to the overall tone of the novel. A dark grey and heavy environment imply a more depressed and sad tone for the characters. After Pewee spots young children traveling with a woman towards the hooch, he begins to make a doll. The author uses the doll to serve as a symbol of hope for humanity.
Behind the scene, we see a stormy sky expressing depression, suffering and
In "The Last Curiosity," a short story by Lucy Tan, the Woken are described as beings with artificial intelligence that change into humans to see what life is like on Earth. This story shows the aftermath of the destruction of mankind and emphasizes how humans were the cause of their own deaths. They watched over humans for a long time and were curious about what it meant to experience life as humans. While on Earth, the Woken experienced struggle, fear, selfishness, and power.
On of the greatest examples of imagery that Alice Walker uses is the one that compares light and darkness. At the beguining of the story the author mentions delicate and calm setting of a farm. In creating this imagery the reader is able to understand that all the positive and upbeat words are associated with the farm setting. Myop’s light-hearted innocence is also shown when “watching the tiny white bubbles disrupt the thin black scale”. The effective description provides credibility to the environment, and makes the later events all the more shocking,
