Dillard is responding to Woolf’s piece by bringing the reader an alternate way of viewing death. In Woolf’s piece death is very final and there is not much sense to life or death in general. Unlike Woolf, Dillard focuses on the death of the moth much more than Wolf does, as she describes the life of the butterfly much more in length. To Dillard the moth’s life is not meaningless, it has a purpose, even if that purpose is fulfilled by mating and dying by flames. The moth’s body acts as a wick that burns as an illuminating flame for two hours, it doesn’t die without purpose. The moth’s death brings beauty through the flame, it’s “waxy” body helps the flame burn. However, Woolf’s view of the moth is nothing more than a helpless, pitiful sight
