Dillard & Clark Essays

Annie Dillard recalls a memorable incident from her childhood, which remained throughout her life, even till the present day. She narrates the adventurous incident where she had voluntarily instigated a strange man -thinking he wouldn’t react- into chasing after her on one particular day. It persisted with Dillard still to this existent, in spite of occurring eons ago, because the pursuit presented her the sheer thrill she later valued and a life-changing experience. Annie Dillard begins

Stone to Talk, she gives a detailed description about her experience of witnessing a total eclipse phenomenon with her then-husband Gary and also some thoughts about humanity that she gained from the experience. Unlike many other non-fiction writers, Dillard likes to bring fictional elements to her writing which adds on to the unconventional themes and ideas that she incorporates in her essays. In “Total Eclipse” she purposely deviates from the conventional ways of writing nonfiction by using literary

The memoir An American Childhood from Annie Dillard is a truly remarkable memoir. Dillard takes the reader through her childhood years all the way to her teenage years and concludes the memoir when she is about to depart. Throughout this memoir, the reader is exposed to the intensity of Dillard’s curiosity. Within this curiosity, the theme of exploration comes to life. Dillard’s constant need to explore and fulfill her dire curiousness are shown throughout the memoir through her actions and the knowledge

In “The Chase” by Annie Dillard she contrasts the energy and idealism youths have with the loss of hope and enthusiasm as adults. Dillard uses energetic and religious diction to keep the reader entranced throughout her story. The vivid diction is used in metaphors to show the contrast between vivacious kids and serious adults. Dillard also uses a variety of sentence structures to

Tafim Alam Professor Joines Engl 1310 04/11/2023 Intricacy analysis “Intricacy” by Annie Dillard is an excerpt from the larger piece of writing Pilgrims at Tinker Creek. In “Intricacy” Dillard highlights many issues, facts, and characteristics of this world. Dillard highlights the necessity to preserve nature, no matter how big or small. She wants us to focus on the things that we can't see with the naked eye, the things we are unaware of, and the things we walk past every day without noticing

become architects—a career she lacks interest in—or daring to attempt the impossible feat of flying, Dillard derives enjoyment from the experiences rather than focusing on the results. Churchill believes in the importance of pursuing challenging

Nella Larsen’s Passing is a novella about the past experiences of African American women ‘passing’ as whites for equal opportunities. Larsen presents the day to day issues African American women face during their ‘passing’ journey through her characters of Irene Redfield and Clare Kendry. During the reading process, we progressively realize ‘passing’ in Harlem, New York during the 1920’s becomes difficult for both of these women physically and mentally as different kinds of challenges approach ahead

Dillard’s church is the “Families whose members have been acquainted with each other as long as anyone remembers grow not close, but respectful,” and the barefoot Jesus dangles inside the dome of the church building, alone (Dillard p.137). Why did they not see the real Jesus? Dillard, as a teenager, understood at a young age, the American church is trapped under the obligation of doing instead being with Jesus, inasmuch as she recognized these dear families with a pining desire to love one another

The Social Conflict A Comparative Critique of Just Walk on By and Polyphemus Moth The essays of "Just Walk on By" written by Brent Staples, and "Polyphemus Moth" written by Annie Dillard suggest that they are very contrasting in their attention to what specific problems that each author addresses, but in actuality when you look much deeper into what each essay purposes, they are not so different. This is an essay of how and why they share the same goal in expressing their intention toward society's

An American Childhood by Annie Dillard is a memoir of her life and memories of growing up in a wealthy family. When she is five years old, she recalls becoming more mindful of the world around her and herself. She also does a lot exploring and adventures in her younger years. Annie Dillard and I have very similar events throughout our lives that relate. One event in Dillard’s life is in her room she believes that a monster is creeping into her room through the night. Eventually, she discovers

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

“Terwilliger Bunts One,” Annie Dillard reflects on her childhood and the various lessons her mother taught her.(MS 7) Growing up Dillard observes her mother’s unique mindset and her love of language. Her mother’s bold personality inspires her to form her own opinion, defend her position, and think for herself. Dillard expresses her mother’s eternal impact throughout her childhood with the three literary elements tone, imagery, and word choice.(MS 2) Through tone, Dillard communicates her positive emotions

The Punta Cana Trip In the morning I wake up around 4:00AM with the biggest excitement ever. I eat pizza because that's the first thing I saw. Then I check if I have everything I need. My grandpa drives to our house and drives us to the airport. When we arive there We all say our goodbyes to our grandpa “ Bye Grandpa ” When we walk in Everywhere long lines!! I turn to my mom and say “ do we really have to go threw all of these lines”!! She replies “ Yes honey”. Hhhhhhhhhhhh!! The first line we

The short story “The Chase,” an excerpt from An American Childhood by Annie Dillard, and the novel Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse share a similar theme of how strangers impact a person's life. The theme that they share is how strangers can have a positive, long-lasting impact on people’s lives. Dillard and Hesse use evidence throughout the text to support the theme. At the beginning of the text, Annie uses flashback as a method to explain how the boys taught her to play football and baseball. She

“The grass at our feet was wild barley,” or even “A piece beside the crescent sun was detaching,”  she describes the effects of the eclipse through distorted imaging, because certainly those things were not happening. Throughout the whole essay, Dillard jumps around from her feelings and the effects of the eclipse to her past experience with partial eclipses and compares them; she also adds in pieces of what she sees in her husband, Gary, and his reactions/different appearances throughout the eclipse

different scenarios. The message that Dillard is trying to tell the reader is that life isn’t possible without suffering. Annie was mature enough to understand that sometimes suffering is necessary in order for another being to benefit. The first half of the story was about Annie’s reaction when she saw the deer that was trapped. To the surprise of her companions, she “looked detached, or hard, or calm, or focused, while [she] felt very old and energetic” (Dillard 70). Her reaction to this was bewilderment

In her essay, The Stunt Pilot, Annie Dillard uses the art of language to convey her appreciation for another art form: the motion of flight. When retelling her time up in the air with stunt pilot Dave Rahm, Dillard purposefully starts off with a plain description of Rahm with vague details as to remind her audience how the man himself was not important, but it was what he did that was beautiful. Dillard then juxtaposes her impressions of being in the air by mentioning how the plane’s “shaking swooping

In “The Chase” from the memoir An American Childhood, Annie Dillard illustrates an incident from her childhood that stayed with her throughout her life. She describes a time when she was out playing with her friends and got caught up in a chase, in which she had the time of her life. She remembers this incident because it had a lasting impression on her life. The exhilaration of the chase was none like any feeling she’s had before or ever had again. The purpose of this story is for Annie to relive

In the piece “Transfiguration” by Annie Dillard, Annie questions the meaning of life only to find no meaning in the end. She creates an overall feel of meaninglessness by employing a variety of tactics throughout the piece. By dismissing subjects with potential meaning and taking them only at face value, she is able to deprive the piece of both explicit and implicit meanings. Furthermore, by showing little to no emotional connection to any subject, she sets up an indifferent tone that further reduces

Snowboarding, like any other sport, one must be thinking at all times, analyzing situations, making split decisions, and making quick calculations. Before my trip, I had only flown on an airplane once, never by myself, I have never seen a mountain so big, and I had zero experience snowboarding. If I only knew then what I know now, I would have entered this new experience with more confidence in myself. Before my trip to Utah, I had only flown on an airplane once before, and now I was going to fly