The world is full of human beings living atop Mother Nature’s land that she has so kindly let people inhabit. In this world live many who think their lives are long and endless influencing them to take life for granted. Others, who are obligated to a restrained existence, either by their physical conditions or their mental state, have a gratitude for life influencing them to attempt to push past their confrontations and accomplish achievements. The individuals, who are able to reach their aspirations during their lifetime, are able to experience the satisfactory feeling as illustrated in The Death of the Moth, by Virginia Woolf. In her writing, Woolf opines that the death should be revered revered because of death’s inevitability, which causes …show more content…
This is delineated in the author Woolf’s writing when a moth struggles to stay alive as if it is peregrinating upstream and drifting downstream when releasing the hold on life. When traveling upstream, the moth uses more energy, pushing against the current, to reach the top bank. In that specific situation, the moth most likely has its subconscious ordering itself to stop to relax. If the the insect follows those injunctions, it is giving up into death’s wishes, where peace is anticipated. By taking the subconscious into account, the insect is constantly in an inner battle within itself in deciding what’s best. The inner battle Woolf illustrates is of the moth trying to fight the devil that stands on its left wing and side with the angel on the right, struggling to stay afloat or summit to pressures. Going downstream; however, is similar to death noted by Woolf as the insect takes less effort in reaching the destination. In this journey downwards, the moth does not feel the immense pressure in making the life altering decision as fate already has decided what path to take. In the author’s story, eventually it succumbs to death, tired from internal wounds, lying “uncomplainingly composed” as if to say that it’s okay. From this action it is inferred that the moth knew it would die, finally stopping its “legs [from fluttering] again”, opening the door to see “the vital light” that is …show more content…
Although life has struggles, those struggles do not always determine the level of complicatedness. As seen in her story, death brings peace, but is seen anywhere at any time, daytime or nighttime, as opposed to life’s one occurrence. Since life comes once, Woolf concludes that the moth started to realize that it needed to battle against all of death’s visits if it wanted to keep the life it knew and loved. She contrasts life and death in the battle where the simple tiny moth enables itself to reach the open window, but only once it “drove its way through so many narrow and intricate corridors [a form of death].” To survive, the moth had to keep up with whatever life threw at it, jumping and fighting against its fate to die. Although the moth passed through one form of death, it faced another the second after, but this time death won the battle, ending the moth’s life once and for all. Even though the moth died, it should be applauded as it willed itself to pass from a simplified life to a difficult afterlife. Death will never disappear in contrast to one’s life, making death seem impossibly the only right choice
Atypical things and creatures have been used in the form of symbolism for different stories and poems, and in the case of Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard, it has been the paltry creature of the moth to represent serious, significant subjects. Virginia Woolf uses a moth as a symbol for life, and as the moth is confined inside the windowpane, he struggles to live and eventually dies. This symbolizes the struggle to circumvent death, as life is treasurable. In the case of Annie Dillard, the moth is attracted to the candle flame, and ends up being burnt and shriveled by the flame. However, while the moth is being scorched, the flame burns brighter, denoting that everyone does have purpose after death, but this story also has religious meaning. Both authors, Annie Dillard and Virginia Woolf, use the same creature to signify different meanings and storylines.
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. ...
By explaining in great detail about the flame and how the moth burned for two hours which gives the impression that day time shall never come. Dillard gets across to us the sudden flare of the moth as it first hits the flame, as if a “flame-faced virgin gone to god” as if it was a beautiful sight to see the moth burst up in flames.
...use in us.”, to choppier and abrupt sentences such as “It was useless to try to do anything.” and “The struggle was over.” The transition to shorter, breathless, syntax when the moth is about to die mimics death itself: breathless and abrupt. The transitional structure of Woolfs piece allows her reader to experience the journey of finding the meaning of life with her, instead of merely explaining a realization she had one day while watching a moth die.
The speaker in “Five A.M.” looks to nature as a source of beauty during his early morning walk, and after clearing his mind and processing his thoughts along the journey, he begins his return home feeling as though he is ready to begin the “uphill curve” (ln. 14) in order to process his daily struggles. However, while the speaker in “Five Flights Up,” shares the same struggles as her fellow speaker, she does little to involve herself in nature other than to observe it from the safety of her place of residence. Although suffering as a result of her struggles, the speaker does little to want to help herself out of her situation, instead choosing to believe that she cannot hardly bare recovery or to lift the shroud of night that has fallen over her. Both speakers face a journey ahead of them whether it be “the uphill curve where a thicket spills with birds every spring” (ln. 14-15) or the five flights of stares ahead of them, yet it is in their attitude where these two individuals differ. Through the appreciation of his early morning surroundings, the speaker in “Five A.M.” finds solitude and self-fulfillment, whereas the speaker in “Five Flights Up” has still failed to realize her own role in that of her recovery from this dark time in her life and how nature can serve a beneficial role in relieving her of her
As stated in an online biography, Virginia Woolf’s life started out normally, she was born into a privileged English household with her three full and four half siblings and was raised by her well to do parents. Both of her parents “were extremely well connected, both socially and artistically” (Virginia Woolf Biography). Although her brothers went to college at Cambridge, her sisters, as well as Woolf herself, were schooled at home with access to an extensive Victorian library. Her open-minded parents brought her up to look at things from a different angle, rather than the straight forward route. Virginia Woolf is one of the few authors that uses the stream of consciousness writing style which immerses the reader in the text. In the case of “The Death of the Moth,” Woolf starts on a normal level, describing the “pleasant morning, mid-September”, and then dials in solely on the moth, to the point where one can visualize the energy the moth emits (Woolf). Not only that, but her stories, such as Mrs. Dalloway, raised awareness for controversial topics such as feminism, mental illness, and homosexuality. Because of her parents’ open mindedness, she was able to learn about a variety of topics while studying at home and form independent, non-socially influenced thoughts, which she later developed into her
In the story “The Death of the Moth,” Virginia Woolf illustrates the universal struggle between life and death. She portrays in passing the valiance of the struggle, of the fight of life against death, but she determines as well the futility of this struggle. Virginia Woolf’s purpose in writing was to depict the patheticness of life in the face of death. Woolf’s conclusion, “death is stronger than I am,” provides the focus of her argument. Throughout the piece, she has built up her case, lead to reader emotional states its concept of the power of death. The piece would begi...
The constant process of life and death, driven by an indestructible progression of time, explains the attitude of carpe diem expressed in three poems focused on human love being a fickle matter. Within the poems “To His Coy Mistress” by Andrew Marvell, “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” by Robert Herrick, and “Youth’s the Season Made for Joys” by John Gay, the concept of how a shy attitude towards the inevitable end of all life is exposed as an inherently useless view. Nevertheless, though their primary themes and ideas of this constant procession of time are obviously expressed, the manner in which they do this, through figurative language and imagery, is the main point in which each of these three poems can be contrasted and examined
No matter how hard we fight, death always wins. Like the moth in the story, people struggle with something all their life long, but at the end they all are facing the death. It’s an inevitable fact: “death is stronger than I am” (196), Woolf states. Basically, she says that we are choosing how to live – fighting or not, with someone’s help or without – the end is the same. It is pessimistic, but it’s the sad truth of life.
creature does not want to be alive any more, as he does not love the world he lives in any more, and this is the world we live in. I think this is how Mary Shelley wanted to achieve ‘thrilling horror’, she created a monster that was so different to us on the outside but on the inside was very much alike, and it is frightening that we never really notice what he is like on the inside until the end. We now realise that from judging someone, it can have long lasting and damaging effects on them, and this is something that we can learn from Mary Shelley.
“Death, the end of life: the time when someone or something dies” (Merriam-Webster, 2014). The definition of death is quite simple, the end of life is inescapable. I chose to write about death and impermanence because it is something we all must inevitably face. People often deal with death in a number of different ways. Although it is something that we must eventually face, it can be hard to come to terms with because the idea can be hard to grasp. Some of us fear it, others are able to accept it, either way we all must eventually face it. In this essay I will look at two different literary works about death and impermanence and compare and contrast the different elements of the point of view, theme, setting, and symbolism. The comparison of these particular works will offer a deeper look into words written by the authors and the feelings that they experiencing at that particular time.
Helena Maria Viramontes’ “The Moths” I was initially drawn to Helena Maria Viramontes’ story “The Moths” due to the striking similarities between the narrator’s experience and my own. experience of being thrust into the role of caretaker for a dying loved. one. Then there is the. By tracking a young girl’s transformation through dealings with subjugation (through her culture), freedom (through her grandmother), death (through her mother).
At a glance, the poem seems simplistic – a detailed observance of nature followed by an invitation to wash a “dear friend’s” hair. Yet this short poem highlights Bishop’s best poetic qualities, including her deliberate choice in diction, and her emotional restraint. Bishop progresses along with the reader to unfold the feelings of both sadness and joy involved in loving a person that will eventually age and pass away. The poem focuses on the intersection of love and death, an intersection that goes beyond gender and sexuality to make a far-reaching statement about the nature of being
Death is unavoidable no matter the circumstances. However, how one dies, that is a subject of the unknown. In the end, if one had the choice of how to die, the decisions could fluctuate between countless possibilities. It is a natural human instinct to fear death because of the unknown and Edgar Allan Poe does not deny this claim. In Poe’s The Pit and the Pendulum, the narrator of the story is tormented in a prison during the Spanish Inquisition; this fear of death is created from natural human instincts. The fear of the narrator creates a raw, psychological human reaction that, by natural instinct generates a confrontation with the unconscious Self.
I Heard a Fly Buzz – When I Died –, written by Emily Dickinson, is an interesting poem in which the poet deals with the subject of death in a doubtful yet both optimistic and pessimistic ways. The central theme of the poem is the doubtfulness and the reality of death. The poem is written in a very unique point of view; the narrator who is speaking is already dead. By using symbols, irony, oxymoron, imagery and punctuation, the poet greatly succeeds in showing the reality of death and her own doubtful feelings towards time after death.