Theme Of The Death Of A Moth

Terrell Owens once stated, “Life and death. At some point we 're gonna leave this world. Do I know when? Absolutely not.” This means that death is unexpected and ambiguous. In The Death of a Moth by Virginia Woolf, she states the transition of life into death. Woolf explains the change of atmosphere as the pure life from a small creature changed dramatically as death hits it. Death destroyed the amount of life that the small moth had. Virginia Woolf’s use of strong rhetorical devices such as symbolism, personification, similes, pathos, imagery, and contradicting diction portrays a message that life is a beauty that people should cherish; however, death will destroy it. Woolf employs symbolism, lively diction, and imagery

Unexpectedly, the moth was nearing death as it approaches the moth. Woolf compared the small moth to a machine as it stops moving momentarily. She stated “..for a time without thinking, unconsciously waiting for him to resume his flight, as one waits for a machine, that has stopped momentarily, to start again without considering the reason of its failure.” The comparison enables the reader to understand that after the useless attempts to get up, the moth laid unmoving which demonstrates that life will eventually end as death strikes. Also, Woolf use pathos to enable a stronger feeling that life will never last long as it will end. According to the story, Woolf stated; “He was trying to resume his dancing, but seemed either so stiff or so awkward that he could only flutter to the bottom of the window pane..” In other words, death is a powerful and strong thing that strikes the butterfly, leaving it unmoving. This gives the reader the emotion of empathy for the butterfly, as it continues to attempt useless tactics. Lastly, before death took over the body of the butterfly, the speaker wanted to give assistance to the butterfly yet denied the chance. The assistance given was symbolized by a pencil that the speaker uses; “But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that failure and awkwardness were the approach of death.” The pencil represents the assistance that life gives to each person before they die. It also means that through all the struggle in life, there will always be a chance that may help a person go through life, or it will turn