The Destiny of Moths in Virginia Woolf’s and Annie Dillard’s Stories Essay Example

When fire devours the skeleton, the heat melts the chitin, energy burns the wings, the undersized insect gives over its soul and leaves nothing but the ash in this world. The destiny of moths was ingrained in their sequences of deoxyribonucleic acid a thousand years ago, it is a fate, an insurmountable fate. However, the unchangeable destiny is interpreted in different ways: Annie Dillard sees the glory and the final beauty of creatures as moths are burned, she believes death presents the meaning of life. On the other hand, Virginia Woolf seeks the strength of life and the futility of moths, and she reveals the idea of death is inevitable. Both authors describe the details and actions of moths but use different rhetorical choices to present the two spirits in the passages. 

Dillard uses the rhetorical strategies of personification and exaggeration to present the glory of the moth. Personification bestows moths with human emotions and connects readers with the objects. In the passage, Dillard uses rhetorical questions to present personification: “Had she been new, or old?  Had she mated and laid her eggs, had she done her work?” (Dillard 7th paragraph) In the excerpt, the moth inherits human traits of age, posterity, mission, and Dillard uses the human “she” to refer to the insect moth. By doing this, the author successfully characterizes the moth and maximizes the value of the life and death of the moth. Furthermore, Dillard uses exaggeration to solidify and build the status of the moth: “She burned for two hours without changing, ……while I read by her light, kindled.” (Dillard 9 paragraph) Dillard exaggerates the brightness of the light from the burning of the moth, indicating the final beauty of moths. The rhetorical choice shows the glory of moths, as herself symbolizes human beings, was benefited from the insect moth. The big contract in intelligence level further highlights the importance and value of the death of the moth, the power and light are the last presence left to the world.

Controversy, Woolf holds a pessimistic opinion on the death of a moth. With a different argument, Woolf chooses to make the structure of the passage unique to express the idea of the inevitability of death. In the last passage, Woolf choose the words of connection and transition to shows the intensity of the process of burning: “  Nevertheless after a pause of exhaustion …… of course, ……Also, ……Again……But even as I did so, ……The struggle was over.” (Woolf 5th paragraph) These words tightly connect every stage of the last-minute thriving of the moth. It expresses the feeling of futility and painful struggle from the unfortunate insect and illustrates the pessimistic atmosphere of the passage. Also, Woolf uses long paragraphs in her article. While the audience reads the long passage, the passage gives the feeling of fatigue and high intensity, this perfectly reflects on the final stage of “torture” and futility of moths. And at the end, as Woolf declares the death of the moth, the painful emotion would transfer to the audience. 

Dillard and Woolf have different decipher on the death of the moth and different rehortiacla choice to empathize thor argument. Similarly, both successfully cause empathy from the audience and build strong connections. The insurmountable fate demonstrates the power of the final beauty and futility of life in concurrent. Two interpretations converge to define the relationship between life and death: one fate, two spirits.