I found that Annie Dillard’s writing was fairly interesting
to read. Some things that were included in the piece confused me. For example,
the reference to the clown painting… I mean, most people despise clowns, and
not many people love to eat their veggies. It’s just a double whammy, and I
found it kind of strange. For me, I found the part of Dillard’s writing where
she spoke of Emperor Louis of Bavaria to be intriguing. She wrote of his death
by fright at the sight of the eclipse in 840, before a time when he would have
prior knowledge about what is really occurring during a total eclipse. Dillard
compares what Emperor Louis of Bavaria must have felt to what we in the modern
world would feel if we saw a mushroom cloud in the horizon—utter shock and
despair because soon, we will no longer be alive. It seemed to me like Dillard
was describing that during the eclipse her logic was no longer in charge and a
human instinct of terror and fright completely took over. The last thing that stuck
out to me as I was reading was a reference to “a decorated sand bucket and a
matching shovel”. The first time this was mentioned was when Dillard was
describing the hotel lobby. There was a decorated child’s sand bucket and a
matching sand shovel beneath the cage of a canary and amongst spilled millet
seeds on the carpet. The second time these two objects were mentioned was when
the author was describing the mind having two tools—grammar and lexicon. She
then compares those two tools to the bucket and shovel. Overall, I thought that
Total Eclipse was a well-written and
interesting essay.
Good response, Zoe: I agree with you that Dillard was trying to show how logic was de-emphasized during this primal natural event. (And the clown was a very creepy little detail!).
ReplyDeleteGood job on getting your blog up and running. One thing to do now is check out some of the other students' blogs and leave them some feedback. A couple of comments a week would be just fine. Make sure you keep a record of where and when you comment so I can give you credit for it. A list of all the blog addresses is on my teacher web page.
Hope your summer is going well, Zoe-- keep cool!
Zoe,
ReplyDeleteWow is all I have to say. You found things in the essay that I did not catch. For example, I do not remember the part about Emperor Louis dying at the sight of a total eclipse, It is quite possible that I just skimmed over it while reading. I liked how you said "logic was no longer in charge and a human instinct of terror and fright completely took over." I thought that really captured the way that Dillard felt when it was complete darkness. You would think that you wouldn't be scared because you know the light will come back, but when it comes down to the moment the world goes dark, your adrenaline will kick in. Logic won't matter anymore, and your survival skills will shine. Overall, I think you made some good points about Dillard's writing and style. I hope you had a great time in Ireland!
Those were things I didn't take much time to appreciate, Zoe! Nice job. I would imagine that writing this story would have taken so much time because of her intricate wording. That really impressed me, but to be honest, after about three pages, it got a little old. I just wanted to know about the total eclipse, not about the clown or vegetables. But you are right; it was interesting, and it was a much different style than most of us are probably used to. Good work, Zoe!
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