An idea that I got out of “A Field of Silence” is that God or religion can approach you at any time. In Dillard’s case, she was in an “ordinary farm, a calf-raising, haymaking gar” (132). I thought that the word “ordinary” really accentuates the fact that you can be anywhere; a place that has no closeness to church or whatnot, yet you might stumble upon angels or God. In Dillard’s case, she was simply lounging around on a summer morning and suddenly, she makes eye contact with rooster that along with others, start making noises, “cranking around, interrupting” (134) each other. As much as Dillard tries to keep contact with the roosters, suddenly “silence gathered and struck” (135) her. All the noise and commotion around her do not matter anymore as the silence overpowers anything that surrounds her. At this point, Dillard almost enters this type of trance and her reaction is to “turn away” (137), willfully. I thought that this was important because it comes to show that religion is out there in the open for everyone and that it can touch you in any moment, yet, if you are not able to open yourself up to it and welcome it into your life, then everything turns “ordinary” (137) once again since you understand everything in it, unlike people who believe in a religion since a lot of their lives depend on faith and on not being sure about life. -Mariale
A peculiar way the author describes the “ordinary farm” (132) she had lived her childhood in is when she talks about how old the farm was. She starts off by saying that the “farm was as old as earth” (133) was meaning that the farm was created by God. She then uses exaggeration to support this idea by saying “a piece of land eaten and replenished a billion summers, a piece of land worked on, lived on, grown over, plowed under, and stitched” (133). This description makes the reader see that land belongs to human not to one person. Every person who steps a piece of land has history in some way with it and that is the way Dillard makes the connection to nature; nobody is the owner of land, but land is our owner. Felipe
Something interesting about “A Field of Silence” is how towards the end, when Dillard is walking “past the farm on the way to a volleyball game” (137), she randomly tells her friend “There are angels in those fields” (137). I found this part very important because even though she mentions that she was “rarely been so surprise at something [she has] said” (137), it shows that once a religious experience occurs to you, you cannot be help but be touched by it. And although Dillard does not accept or open her doors to the angels or god, she thinks of them “from time to time (138); something that clearly shows that one is always affected in some way by it. However, although she is sure that angels exist in that particular field and in many others, she mentions at the end that she has “no idea” (138) as to what that means about “perception, language or sanity” (138). This last sentence clearly shows that as much as Dillard knows they exist, she isn’t certain about what her own mind believes. -Mariale
An idea that I got out of “A Field of Silence” is that God or religion can approach you at any time. In Dillard’s case, she was in an “ordinary farm, a calf-raising, haymaking gar” (132). I thought that the word “ordinary” really accentuates the fact that you can be anywhere; a place that has no closeness to church or whatnot, yet you might stumble upon angels or God. In Dillard’s case, she was simply lounging around on a summer morning and suddenly, she makes eye contact with rooster that along with others, start making noises, “cranking around, interrupting” (134) each other. As much as Dillard tries to keep contact with the roosters, suddenly “silence gathered and struck” (135) her. All the noise and commotion around her do not matter anymore as the silence overpowers anything that surrounds her. At this point, Dillard almost enters this type of trance and her reaction is to “turn away” (137), willfully. I thought that this was important because it comes to show that religion is out there in the open for everyone and that it can touch you in any moment, yet, if you are not able to open yourself up to it and welcome it into your life, then everything turns “ordinary” (137) once again since you understand everything in it, unlike people who believe in a religion since a lot of their lives depend on faith and on not being sure about life.
ReplyDelete-Mariale
A peculiar way the author describes the “ordinary farm” (132) she had lived her childhood in is when she talks about how old the farm was. She starts off by saying that the “farm was as old as earth” (133) was meaning that the farm was created by God. She then uses exaggeration to support this idea by saying “a piece of land eaten and replenished a billion summers, a piece of land worked on, lived on, grown over, plowed under, and stitched” (133). This description makes the reader see that land belongs to human not to one person. Every person who steps a piece of land has history in some way with it and that is the way Dillard makes the connection to nature; nobody is the owner of land, but land is our owner.
ReplyDeleteFelipe
Something interesting about “A Field of Silence” is how towards the end, when Dillard is walking “past the farm on the way to a volleyball game” (137), she randomly tells her friend “There are angels in those fields” (137). I found this part very important because even though she mentions that she was “rarely been so surprise at something [she has] said” (137), it shows that once a religious experience occurs to you, you cannot be help but be touched by it. And although Dillard does not accept or open her doors to the angels or god, she thinks of them “from time to time (138); something that clearly shows that one is always affected in some way by it. However, although she is sure that angels exist in that particular field and in many others, she mentions at the end that she has “no idea” (138) as to what that means about “perception, language or sanity” (138). This last sentence clearly shows that as much as Dillard knows they exist, she isn’t certain about what her own mind believes.
ReplyDelete-Mariale