Annie Dillard

A person’s mindset can be described as their attitude and the way that person views the world and life. In the short stories, “Seeing” by Annie Dillard and “This is Water” by David Foster Wallace, both authors explore how having different observations and ways of thinking can change someone’s mindset and attitude. In comparison, “Seeing by Annie Dillard”, shows how vision can either cloud or open the mindset of the bigger picture. However, “This is Water” by Foster Wallace, shows that focusing…

Childhood, Annie Dillard explores her own coming of age as she reflects on childhood memories. A particular event stands out in Dillard’s mind that she refers to while entering adulthood. She witnesses a situation during school that prompts a moment of awakening. Examining this event in Dillard’s memoir has prompted me to reflect on my own life and memory. Using Dillard’s experience with the Polyphemus moth, I am able to consider my own moments of growth and understanding. In our lives, Annie…

humans, from the Mayans to Galileo. Even now, with humans sending satellites to map outer space, the vast universe is still an unanswered question. Annie Dillard believes that this question cannot be answered because, as in her essay Total Eclipse, she writes that the universe is so powerful that the human mind will break before it understands. Dillard writes about her being teleported to a new world as soon as the total eclipse begins, one that she did not know existed, and the consequences on…

of words is a miner’s pick, a woodcarver’s gouge, a surgeon’s probe. You wield it, and it digs a path you follow. Soon you find yourself deep in new territory.” (qtd. in Dillard 3) This quote from Annie Dillard, in her book The Writing Life, vividly portrays the experience of every writer. Throughout her beloved account, Dillard depicts her life as an author and the obstacles she overcomes. Her broad vocabulary and lucid descriptions captivate the reader’s mind. Dillard’s knowledge and love…

delve into topics deeper than ordinary people do and show a how those birds affect them personally. Two such writers are John James Audubon and Annie Dillard, who both wrote a two-paragraph piece about their experiences observing birds. However, they differ in how they do this. While Audubon used a tone of fascination with learning about the birds. Dillard utilized a tone of mystification and enrapturement in the movements of…

have people we admire in our life and Annie Dillard, who wrote An American Childhood, admired her mother. The personal qualities that Dillard admires from her mother include her love for words, her love for gags, her intelligence and her desire to make her own stand despite what everyone else says. Dillard shows this love by telling many stories about when her mother would exhibit these qualities. Her mother’s love for words and jokes was important to Dillard as we can see in her first story:…

“God in the Doorway,” Annie Dillard conveys a shift in her perception of God by associating fearful childhood experiences with her current interpersonal relationship with God. Santa Claus appears at Dillard’s doorway on Christmas Eve and as a young girl Dillard reacts in fear of a powerful, omniscient god-like figure and runs away. (M.S. 1) Dillard later realizes Miss White, her elderly neighbor, dressed-up as Santa Claus intending to shape a loving relationship with Dillard. Miss White attempts…

instinct; nine times out of 10 we chose flight. In both texts “An American Childhood” by Annie Dillard and “Always Running” by Luis Rodriguez, both Dillard and Rodriguez put themselves in this predicament, doing something they should not be doing and answering for it. Rodriguez and Dillard both give you a visual of the day that they will remember for the rest of their lives. In “An American Childhood”, Dillard starts with the boys in her neighborhood teaching her how to play football and her…

is selfless, courageous, determined, always have a positive outlook on life, and someone who is not afraid to take the risk and help other individuals in need. Anyone in the world can be a hero no matter how small or big the kindness they show. In Annie Dillard's “The Chase,” her character shows the real meaning of friendship because she defied the odds of girls playing inside and being domestic. Her friends accepted her as part of the group and played with her despite the criticism she may get.…

the initial burst begins to fade, and the resonance serenely quiets, but never entirely. Even silence has a certain musicality because the absence of sound is sound itself. Annie Dillard supports this in her essay, “A Field of Silence” when she states that she, “saw the silence heaped on the fields like trays” (Dillard). Dillard supports the idea that sound, and the absence of sound, holds weight and substance. Something that holds substance also has the ability to leave traces behind, both in a…