Death Of The Moth Rhetorical Analysis

Lao Tzu once said, “Life and death are one thread, the same line viewed from different sides.” This quote is saying that death is an inevitable definiteness in life. In Virginia Woolf’s essay The Death of the Moth, there is a struggle of life and death, which is delineated as a battle that is not ever won. Woolf utilizes fragmentation within the narration, metaphors to convey the message, and a feeling of pity. As the essay goes on, her metaphors and stylistic choices strengthen the idea that death cannot be beaten. Within the narration, Woolf uses fragmentation to intensify certain points in the piece. In the beginning, she illustrates the inconsequential but the fascination of the moth influences in the world through the sentences such as “one could not help but watch him,” “what he could do he did,” and “he was little or nothing but life.” She depicts her indifference through the phrases as “I laid the pencil down,” “I looked out of doors,” “the horses stood still,” and “the struggle was over.” These concluding examples links the effect of the world’s indifference and simple acceptance of an individual’s personal battles.

The first word Woolf uses is “moths” not as a singular form, but as a plural collective form. The two facts both summarize that the general individual is never safe from death. The eventual resignation and acceptance of death at the end acts as a justification which says that after many successes and failures, an individual can’t always keep fighting. A common theme is the indifference of the outside world. In the first paragraph, Woolf describes the scene outside of the room which involves ploughing fields, rooks, and horses going about their daily lives while the moth fights its fate. Regardless of what happens to the individual, life goes on and the world does not stop