The Fixed Annie Dillard Analysis

Pollution has become a serious political issue. Humans that live among nature prevent damaging effects like pollution from occurring because nature is their habitat that they want to protect. This simple difference in lifestyle and in attitude already majorly distinguishes the two groups of humans. Ego is not the only factor in destruction, however. The lack of awareness about the consequences of destruction of nature causes destruction of nature. Well-known consequences like pollution exist, but there are some that are not as obvious. In the Indian fable “Numskull and Rabbit ”, the forest creatures describe how the lion’s murderous nature is not only ending lives, but is also preventing the birth of future lives as a result. An example of this mass destruction is evident in the second image from the movie, where cages full of jailed chickens that are hoarded like they are just objects are about to become poultry for human sustenance . Core principles of evolution state that reproduction of a species is imperative to their survival. If a species has a reduction in population, then the food chain becomes unbalanced, which can impact many species negatively. Humans who live among nature are more aware of their environment and how it impacts their lifestyles, so they are more careful in making sure that they do not injure its natural order. The destruction of nature is caused by simple

Annie Dillard, an experienced nature writer and published author, suggests in her excerpt from “The Fixed” that once a mistake is made, a life can be changed forever. She begins with introducing a cocoon that was found by the narrator’s friend, Judy, when she was a child. Describing what kind of moth will emerge from the bundle gives the reader a certain set of expectations of the outcome, using vivid imagery and diction reminiscent of her childhood innocence to plant these anticipations into the readers mind – the innocence of the narrator making the story appear to begin with a bright and guiltless point of view. Then, she displays the innocent yet violent actions of children of her childhood class, using diction with harmful overtones to

‘The sheer popularity’ of stimulating nature or using nature as ad space ‘demands that we acknowledge, even respect, their cultural importance,’ suggests Richtel. Culturally important, yes. But the logical extension of synthetic nature is the irrelevance of ‘true’ nature— the certainty that it’s not even worth looking at. (Louv lines 9-19)

Aldo Leopold laid the foundation for environmental awareness decades ahead of a “ecological conscience” (257). There have many pleas to reconnect humanity with nature since the release of Leopold’s cherished book. Intuition and reason tell us that living in harmony with our world is more than idealistic—the future of our planet depends on it. The desire for harmony is not new one. Humans have long time sought to live in peace. It is genuine feelings of love and

In Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels,” she provides us one way we can try to learn from nature and accept the advice it bestows upon us. Although this is not everything Mother Nature has to offer us, it is one step in the right direction towards enlightenment. In Grice’s “The Black Widow,” he provides us with one example from the many amazing parts of nature that we fail to comprehend. He shows us that although some things do not fit into our idea of a perfect world, we should still marvel at the mysterious workings of nature. If you take the time to stop and smell the roses, you will be fascinated by the various lessons our complex world has to offer us and awed by the aspects of it we have no reasonable explanations

In his book, Last Child in the Woods (2008), Richard Louv illustrates his distaste for the widening divide between man and nature by his use of exemplification, narration and hypophora. Louv’s purpose for writing this book is to inform the audience that mankind should change its ways and move towards a lifestyle that is more appreciative of its surroundings. Louv uses a frustrated tone to invoke the feeling of guilt within the reader because they are responsible for making humanity unappreciative of nature.

Since the beginning of time, man relied on nature for everything- food, shelter, clothing, etc. Today, technology runs rampant, even though we use it to our advantage, it cuts humanity’s tie with nature. Richard Louv invokes the sad truth that we are beginning to lose our relationship with nature. In Last Child in the Woods, Richard Louv uses anecdotes, hyperboles, hypothetical situations, rhetorical questions, and imagery to argue against the separation of man and Mother Nature.

This entry’s theme is a collage of concepts that relate back to our planet, our civilization, environment, and humanity. Plus, I believe that this entry links to blind faith because the author mentions the fact that no one knows what comes after death. Also, I imagine that Annie Dillard wants her readers to perceive our surrounding’s value and how far we, as human beginnings and this earth, have come considering where we initiated.

The essay Annie Dillard writes is influenced by a sighting of one on a walk through the woods. There she decides to research their behavior, food, and habitat, such as how he sleeps, what he eats, and how vicious these little furry creatures can be. A story Annie found on such creatures fixated her; a man one shot down an eagle out of the sky. Attached to the throat of the eagle, was the skull of a weasel. Ernest Thompson Seton believes that in a moment of fight- a reflex all creatures have called fight or flight- a weasel latched onto an eagle and latterly died in that position, forever staying on the throat of the winged creature. Before then, she had never seen a weasel before, so this moment in time is engraved in her brain. She learns

In “Seeing”, Annie Dillard focuses on the concept of seeing through her childhood experiences. She refers to her childhood joy of hiding pennies for others to find, imagining that the person would be happy to find some pennies on the sidewalk. In her anecdote, she establishes the motif of gifts, and emphasize the idea that joy can come from such small findings like pennies. By illustrating how she did not doubt that the person who finds the pennies would appreciate the small present, it implicitly questions the audience if they ever appreciated small gifts that seemed insignificant. Gifts can be anything from expensive necklaces to shiny rocks. In her story, Dillard defines gifts as something that would make the receiver appreciate the giver’s

(Allen 12). The author wants to make the point that while in the out doors there will always be another part of nature invading while trying to kick out nature. The Wild does what it wants, we want to be surrounded by it and make it live by our standards, but we can't control it. Bugs and animals come into our homes invading our privacies

“Hope for Animals and Their World” an essay by Jane Goodall expresses how nature can take effect in humankind and how humans have affected natures growth. Goodall takes a persuasive stand in her forthright tone that reflects her attitude. The way Goodall displays her tone to the reader is by the use of her denotation. Goodall indicates how humans have affected the invertebrate community by harassing their ecosystem.

James Thurber’s “The Wood Duck”, published in 1936, splits nature into multiple recognizable pieces, some to be hunted and used for human gain, while others are to be left alone for a distant enjoyment, like merciful gods gazing down upon a simple, weak being. Death would be easy for the small being, is easy, and yet it lives and so it is treasured as a small entertainment. “The Wood Duck”, rather than take an obvious stance against or for human industrialization and what it does to the ecosystems that share our small blueish planet, instead brings to light the jarring contradiction in which humans live with nature as both aggressors and innocently curious viewers of a nature that is forced to adapt to survive in a world humans had vitally

In Annie Dillard's "The Chase" the main character is being hunted by an adult through one of the neighborhoods in Pittsburgh, after throwing a snowball at his car. While running, she contemplates why the adult would even care enough to chase her. She discovers that the man has the same theory as her - give your all to something or you will lose. When I was analyzing the story, I took into consideration the man's point of view. I believe he wanted to teach the kids a lesson and, using the same theory as the main character, knew if he gave up, the kids would learn nothing and repeat their actions. When the narrator is finally caught by the man, all he says is, "You stupid kids." and the girl is not exactly happy that he chooses to only say

Nature is merely our instrument of conquering one another. By manipulating what already exists, we create everything from nuclear warheads to high speed internet. The continuous competition between men feeds off of our technological advancement—none of which would be possible without the resources Nature provides for us. And rather than being grateful for the unequivicable power so generously offered us by our environment, we instead mock its existence. We distract from the cunningness and cruelty of our efforts toward mankind by relabeling our target ‘Nature’ rather than ‘each other’. By convincing ourselves we are somehow beginning to have Nature within our control and understanding, we forget that Nature is really only the means, not the end of our conquest. We will not be satisfied until we have defeated ourselves. As Lewis puts it, “Human nature will be the last part of Nature to surrender to Man. The battle will then be won… But who, precisely, will have won it?” (The Abolition of Man, 421)