What started out as an ordinary day turned out to be one if the worst tragedies in the history of Bangladesh – the fire at Nimtoli in Dhaka. I sat in shock as I saw the news reports of the tragic incident showing numerous buildings on fire burning mercilessly, people running in havoc with no idea where loved ones are and yet others trapped inside the buildings, screaming, being burned alive. However, nothing seemed to have any effect on the ruthless fire which kept on burning, claiming as many lives as it could, turning a deaf ear to the desperate cries of hundreds of people. The blazing flames simply devoured everything in their path, burning them to ash. It finally subsided in the early hours of dawn, but the damage it left behind was monumental – piles of debris and dead bodies scattered in buildings which were burned charcoal black. As the police and firemen recovered countless bodies from the ruins, I wondered about the strange nature of life and death.
In her essay, “The Death of a Moth”, Virginia Woolf contemplates how life and death are separated by a single thread of “energy” and how eventually the force of death snaps the thread, overpowering life and proving its superior strength (385). Woolf reflects how life and death are two mutually exclusive forces of nature, yet they are intertwined by the law of nature itself. In the essay, Woolf observes a moth, an “insignificant creature” at his attempts to “[enjoy] his meager opportunities” of a particularly vibrant morning bustling with life, energy and activity (385). However the moth is soon faced with a force which Woolf deems to be far superior to life’s energy. It is a force “which would, had it chosen, have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of hu...
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.... They are also echoed by humans in an attempt to delay death.
However, as Woolf claims, death indeed is the ultimate destination of all living things. It is how we reach that destination that matters the most. All rational living creatures “diverge ever more widely from [their] original course of life and to make ever more complicated detours before reaching [their] final aim of death” (Freud 32).
Robert Frost in his poem “Nothing Gold Can Stay” writes:
“Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.”
The fact that life is a “hue” that we want to hold questions Woolf’s supposed claims; if death is indeed the stronger force of nature and life the weaker, then why do all living beings choose the weaker force? Perhaps there is a force stronger than the force of life and death, one that governs life and death, and that I believe is the force of nature.
ImageText BoxImageOne of the biggest threats to the environment of Ontario is the Gypsy Moth (Lymantria dispar dispar). The species itself is native to Europe and Asia. How this affects us is by weakening trees across Ontario and North America. The first time the gypsy moth was found in Ontario was 1969. The gypsy moth can be found in southern Canada (Ontario), New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and British Columbia. It is known to weaken trees and the caterpillar form live in trees and during most outbreaks its caterpillar feces would fall from the trees to the ground or even on top of humans. The average Gypsy Caterpillar can grow 5-6 centimeters long. With five pairs of blue spots and six pairs of bright red dots on their back. The female moth are white and can fly on the other hand, the male moth are brown and can also fly. The female have a 5cm wing span but male have a 2.5cm wing span. The gypsy moth usually lives in open forests and other forests and take up at least 20% of the space. The Gypsy moth are about 4cm long, tan coloured and can be located on tree trunks, furniture, and buildings. (OFAH Invading Species Awareness Program, 2012)
Nature is a dominant theme throughout the romanticism period, which was at its peak between the 1800s and 1850. The novel Frankenstein, which was written by Mary Shelly was written in 1818, and the poem A Cottage in Grasmere Vale written by Dorothy Wordsworth was written in 1805, both the novel and the poem were written during the peak of the romanticism era, which would enlighten the clear evidence of nature throughout both pieces. Dorothy was William Wordsworth’s sister, who was always close with her brother. Nature is described as ‘the phenomena of the physical world collectively, including plants, animals, the landscape, and other features and products of the earth, as opposed to humans or human creations’ In this essay I will discuss the key elements of nature and the natural world in Frankenstein and A Cottage in Grasmere Vale. Dorothy lived in Grasmere in the
More than 150 years have passed since the peak of the romantic era. The world has inconceivably reached heights unknown seemingly at the expense of nature. The very paper that this has been written on has come at the killing of countless trees. It seems that in the war between the genius against the noble savage, the scientist against the romantic, man against nature, those who believe in nature have lost all the battles. However war is not always starkly clear. The complex relation between man and nature creates a base for conflicts and resolutions between human and nature in Frankenstein by Mary Shelly and the film Beasts of the Southern Wild. Despite seeming to be on the losing foot, it is nature that wins the war ultimately.
Both Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard are extremely gifted writers. Virginia Woolf in 1942 wrote an essay called The Death of the Moth. Annie Dillard later on in 1976 wrote an essay that was similar in the name called The Death of a Moth and even had similar context. The two authors wrote powerful texts expressing their perspectives on the topic of life and death. They both had similar techniques but used them to develop completely different views. Each of the two authors incorporate in their text a unique way of adding their personal experience in their essay as they describe a specific occasion, time, and memory of their lives. Woolf’s personal experience begins with “it was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months” (Woolf, 1). Annie Dillard personal experience begins with “two summers ago, I was camping alone in the blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia” (Dillard, 1). Including personal experience allowed Virginia Woolf to give her own enjoyable, fulfilling and understandable perception of life and death. Likewise, Annie Dillard used the personal narrative to focus on life but specifically on the life of death. To explore the power of life and death Virginia Woolf uses literary tools such as metaphors and imagery, along with a specific style and structure of writing in a conversational way to create an emotional tone and connect with her reader the value of life, but ultimately accepting death through the relationship of a moth and a human. While Annie Dillard on the other hand uses the same exact literary tools along with a specific style and similar structure to create a completely different perspective on just death, expressing that death is how it comes. ...
Most writers love to pick the topic of life and death as they are the mystifying kind of things that always make human left wondering. In Annie Dillard’s essay, “The Death of a Moth”, she heavily puts her focus towards the moth’s behavior when dying. Readers generally would think that she is a different type of author to write four pages of essay talking about moths. Also, she mentions lots of details about the variety of bugs in her bathroom which somehow is disturbing to some people when reading this essay for the first time. Moths that die seem very insignificant and quite straightforward. However, if we take the initiative to delve into her piece, we could see the hidden meaning behind the death of the moths. Her interaction with moths
The relationship between life and death is explored in Woolf’s piece, “The Death of a Moth.” Woolf’s own epiphany is presented in her piece; she invites her reader, through her stylistic devices, to experience the way in which she realized what the meaning of life and death meant to her. Woolf’s techniques allow her audience to further their own understanding of death and encourages them consider their own existence.
Although death reigns supreme in the universal fears of man, Thanatopsis reassures the reader that death comes naturally to everyone. William Cullen Bryant uses emotion to reinforce this point. For example, it seems as if fear should be instilled by Bryant’s description, stating “When thoughts / Of the last bitter hour come like a blight / Over thy spirit” (8-10), this fear vanishes quickly when Bryant continues “Go forth under the open sky, and list / To Nature’s teaching” (14-15). Although this paralyzing thought of death washes over many, Bryant argues Nature soothes and calms this fear. Despite these emotions of terror and pain,
This short story by Helena Maria Viramontes, she is portraying symbolism in the moths, the sun, and the growth the granddaughter went through into releasing her resentment. Towards the end of the story, the moths came out through Abuelita’s mouth, while being in the bath tub, fluttering into the light. This represented rebirth and liberation in the Abuelita’s soul because in the story, the granddaughter states that Abuelita would tell her about the moths within the soul and slowly eating the spirit up. Therefore, by the moths within her soul escaping and fluttering to the light, it represented more than just Abuelita dying. The moths represented her soul finally at peace. In addition, the moths were also a healing remedy because how she would use the moth wings, during the beginning of the story, to her granddaughter’s hand to shape them and making her feel more confident about her “bull hands.” Abuelita’s soul was portrayed as moths in the sense of freedom, spirituality, and being able to let go of her cancerous body.
Life and death represent a dyad; their definitions inherently depend on one another. Simply defined, death is the cessation of life. Similarly, life can be defined as not death; however, not everything not alive is dead. Boniolo and Di Fiore explain this dyadic relationship well, and other authors have cited this interdependency to better define life and death.1-6 The academic literature contains multiple definitions for both terms depending on which discipline or interest group attempts the definition. Nair-Collins provides a thorough discourse on this diversity in terms of death, differentiating between “biological death, death of the person, death of the moral agent, death of the moral patient, legal death, and the commonsense notion of death.”2(p.667,668,675) Through the dyadic relationship, similar groupings could be arrived at for defining life. Whether or not one accepts Nair-Collins’ categories, at least some differentiation of this type is necessary given the complexity of these concepts. I propose a simplified categorization of the definitions of life and death: (1)scientific/biological, (2)medic...
The short story “The Moths,” written by Helena Maria Viramontes, tells a story between a granddaughter and a grandmother who both share a symbolic connection between each other. The story is in a first person narrative, told by the author, and her experience taking care of her ill grandmother while facing gender and religious oppression in her own home. The author is very distant from her own family mainly because she does not meet the expectations that her parents have embedded for her. There is a motif of rebirth throughout the story told by the author by symbolizing the significance of the gray moths. The vivid imagery of moths in Helena Maria Viramontes’ short story “The Moths” symbolizes the connection between life and death.
Throughout recorded history, fires have been known to cause great loss of life, property, and knowledge. The Great Fire of London was easily one of the worst fires mankind has ever seen causing large scale destruction and terror. Samuel Pepys described the fire as “A most malicious bloody flame, as one entire arch of fire of above a mile long… the churches, houses and all on fire and flaming at once, and a horrid noise the flames made.” (Britain Express 1).
She describes the September morning as “mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than the summer months.” She then goes on to describe the field outside her window, using word choice that is quite the opposite of words that would be used to describe a depressing story. She depicts the exact opposite of death, and creates a feeling of joy, happiness, and life to the world outside her room. After this, she goes into great detail about the “festivities” of the rooks among the treetops, and how they “soared round the treetops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air”. There is so much going on around her that “it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book.” Descriptions like these are no way to describe a seemingly depressing story about a moth, but by using these, joyful descriptions, Woolf connects everything happening outside to a single strand of energy. These images set a lively tone for the world around her, and now allow her to further introduce the moth into the story.
Victor Frankenstein and his creation are alike in several ways, one of them being their appreciation of nature. Victor embraces the nature for the quick moment that he escapes the creature as it “filled me with a sublime ecstasy that gave wings to the soul and allowed it to soar from the obscure world to light and joy” (Shelley 84). Vict...
Throughout time, death has been viewed in a negative light. In general, it is an event to be mourned and is seen by some as the end to existence. People do not usually seek death as an answer to their problems. In various pieces of literature, however, suicide is contemplated by the characters as the only solution to the pain and grief that they experience.
Life then death, life after death, or life and death, and so on. These phrases represent the varying understandings throughout the world’s cultures of the relationship between life and death and its relationship to living creatures. Throughout, it is understood that all organisms spend time on earth in a specific form and after some time that form will wear away and the physical form of that being will die--the body will no longer function and can return to the earth and nutrients from which it came. However, the disagreement lies in whether or not there is a literal end to that organism’s existence, or its being, its spirit. Both a culture’s understanding of this relationship and historic influences, cause variations of cultural attitudes toward life and death.