Journal #2

Journal 2 - Annie Dillard – “The Death of a Moth,” from Holy the

Firm

1. How are the moths in the essay’s opening different from the moth at the campsite?  What do the different moths represent? 

The moths are the two different approaches to life. The moths in the bathroom are dead and empty. They are just body parts and not recognizable. The moths at the campsite were burning like the wick in the candle. She is saying that the first ones are nothing, dried up bits of life that aren’t inspiring or driven. The moth in the flame brought some life and beauty. She wants to be the one in the campsite because it’s burning and passionate.

2. What lesson does the moth provide that Dillard takes back to her students? 

The lessons that the moths provide is to give whatever you do your all. It is to be the person to attack it and go all out. The ax could also mean to dig deep and struggle to find your courage.

3.  How many references are there to fire in the essay?  What’s the larger significance of fire in the essay? 

There three big references to fire in the essay. The candles before she goes to bed, the title of the book that inspired her to become a writer, and the moths in the fire. The fire represents inspiration. The fire is sparking ideas, passion, and ignites. She compares the moth to a saint that is a martyr. The death has meaning and it wasn’t an empty death.

4. Address how each of the following quotes connect to Dillard’s overall point.  

a.      “I would rather be ashes than dust!
          I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
          I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in        magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
          The function of man is to live, not to exist.
          I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
          I shall use my time.”

                    -Jack London

He is saying here that she would rather have lived his life at the best and has meaning instead of being nothing. He wants to leave life knowing that he did something important and passionate. London is saying to take every day and live it to your fullest. Don’t let your days get away from you and be passionate towards anything you do. It connects to Dillard’s point in that her whole essay if pointed towards finding the fire within and being important in life.

b. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”

          -William Butler Yeats

In this quote, Yeats is saying that education is not just getting what you need to done but it is taking what you have learned and make it into something big. Don’t just learn what you need too but learn everything you can and make importance out of it. The purpose of education is to ignite an interest and spark a fire with the individual person. This relates to Dillard’s essay in the mention of fire and using fire as a symbol of inspiration.

c. “A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.”  

          -Franz Kafka

This quote by Franz like Dillard is referring to the ax in going at things with full force. He is saying that books bring out the person we really are inside of us. Dillard says in her essay to go at life with a broadax saying to go through life giving it your all.