Monday, May 31, 2010

# 1- LIVING LIKE WEASELS

DISCUSSION CAN BE SEEN ON COMMENTS.

5 comments:

  1. The setting on “Living Like Weasels” by Annie Dillard is vital to the whole concept of the essay. It takes place in Hollins Pond or Murrays Pond, a place which Dillard describes as a “Creek with six inches of water and six thousand lily pads” (12). However, in the wintertime, these lily pads change into “brown and white steers [that] stand in the middle of it, [something that looks] like a miracle itself” (12). This overall description of the setting is very important due to the fact that it introduces the reader into a very calm and beautiful place. A place which is noticeably in nature; something that makes it obvious to the reader that the setting is basically the weasel’s and that he is being put into his position to understand the way in which the animal lives his life. The setting is vital for the author to show his main idea due to the fact that it transports the reader to another place where he can understand the life that a weasel must undergo; in a place where anything can happen and thus, he has the possibility to live by their instincts since they are surrounded by “black leeches, deep blue [bodies] of skies, lichen and thorny shores”; things that are alive and unpredictable; things that make them live their life to the fullest since they live by the moment and not by the past. Unlike humans, weasels stay true to the things that they live by, whether it means fighting another animal or looking at a human in the eye. This is mostly because they live in habitat which is spontaneous and beautiful; much like their own lives.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Annie’s explanation of every single detail of the setting is very strong, making the audience experience her eyes, but I believe that her doubt makes her understanding stress. She uses her lack of knowledge about this animal to even further get into its thoughts and description.
    The author Annie Dillard is interested in understanding what a weasel thinks; “Who knows what he thinks?”(11) The intrigue of the author leads to this same question making her puzzle herself. Animals as we know, respond to their nature. Their lives are guided by their instinct not by their thought or reason. Their actions show perfection but they don’t plan to do that, they simply respond to their survival needs.
    The peculiar way she describes this animal at the beginning contrasting it when she presences it, it dramatically changes. She starts off by explaining that the weasels “Obedient to instinct, he bites his prey at the neck, either splitting the jugular vein at the throat or crunching the brain at the base of the skull and he does not let go.”(11) This sketch of the animal is definitely from a fierce and intrepid predator, it gives us a sense that we are dealing with a beast; making the weasel a dangerous animal to be around. But moving on into the essay, she describes this animal as a curious, interesting animal who she describes as; “ten inches long, thin as a curve, a muscled ribbon, brown as fruitwood, soft-furred...”(13) this description looks at the other side of the animal and puts it as a small rodent wondering around.
    Felipe

    ReplyDelete
  3. Felipe, I had not noticed that change in opinion of the weasel from the beginning to the end. But now that you explained it, I agree as it definitely makes sense. Connecting this idea to what you said, I believe that the main idea of this essay is to show the readers that one should live by the moment instead of measuring all decisions and whatnot so carefully. Instead, one should go straight “for the throat” (15) and not miss any chances since as the common saying says, you tend to regret the chances you did not take rather than the ones that you did. Similarly to the weasel, one must “yield at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity” (16) and thus, live to the fullest, in a moment that is going to be unrepeatable. Much like the moment that the weasel and the author had since they connected but within the blink of an eye, the animal was gone, and the author did not know what do to or how to react to this and this is why one should respond quickly to situations so that afterwards one does not think “I should have…” since those moments don’t repeat themselves.
    -Mariale

    ReplyDelete
  4. I perfectly agree Mariale, your point is perfectly valid and totally correct, I may even add to this, as cite from the story "I would like to live as I should, as the weasel lives as he should" meaning that we do with our lives as we should. To even reinforce this idea further I may add whatsoever; “The weasel lives in necessity and we live in choice” portraying that; as weasels showing all these ways of living through their actions show us that they do it as an instinct as a necessity, and we have a choice to do so. We may choose in whatever we want and as if you say, that the weasel “goes for the throat”, then it would be our choice to go ahead and don’t miss any chances out there. Felipe

    ReplyDelete
  5. Good comments guys. One thing I noticed about the essay that you guys didn't mention was the use of contrasts. There was a lot of imagery around the mix of nature and man with bushes and beer cans. Also interesting was the contrast of the weasel as seen as attacking, and yet the weasel is also "yeilding at every moment to the perfect freedom of single necessity". The weasel is blank and and senseless in some ways and yet infinitely wise in others. This contrast reminds me of the same contrasts used in TULB where there are contrasts that are actually very close together. You can be vicious and calm, wise and blank, all at the same time.

    ReplyDelete