Death Of A Moth Analysis

Death is inevitable. It is an inescapable, daunting, truth which most living species dread in life. The feeling of uncertainty and pain evokes fear among people. Two similar essays, “The Death of a Moth” and “The Death of the Moth” both accurately depict the nature of life and death in a descriptive and detailed manner. However, each author establishes their own purpose by approaching different stylistic choices and rhetorical strategies. While Dillard expresses that death serves a purpose, Woolf argues that death is final and will ultimately triumph.
Although Woolf’s tone is more hopeless and depressing, Dillard’s tone is more inquisitive; they both differ because it demonstrates the two varying perspectives they both have on the topic of death. Woolf feels pity for the moth while it was stuck in the window. She writes, “moth fluttering from side to side” to emphasize the struggles of death and to convey that the moth was doomed to die. Despite this, the moth was putting in a tremendous effort to escape, but Woolf knew that the moth was completely helpless and would fall into death eventually. Comparatively, Dillards views her situation with a curious mindset. Through the phrase, “six …show more content…
In Woolf’s pieces, the phrase “tired by his dancing” illustrate the true struggle of the moth. She adds, “death is stronger than I am” to reiterate her main purpose that death is final and will be victorious, no matter how persistent something fights. On the other hand, the creative, vivid word choice in Dillard's essay proves how the moth burning in the flame had the function of keeping the candle lit. She highlights the phrase, “boiling fire glimpsed through silhouetted walls” which states that while the moth was dying it provided light for two hours while she was reading at night. The other words, “burned for two hours, until I blew her out” suggests that the death was violent and