Analyzing Living Like Weasels
In “Living Like Weasels,” the writer,Annie Dillard, is talking about weasels by describing some of their living habits and narrating her sudden encounter with a weasel which made her change her mind towards the real meaning of life . In her essay, Dillard is comparing weasels’ life with humans’ life, and in some parts she is favoring weasel’s life over our life for some reasons.
In fact, weasels live freely. It seems like they have accepted the pains and suffers of life like death and lost. They live in the moment, and they don’t bother themselves by remembering bad memories. According to Dillard,“ The weasel lives as he should. And I suspect that for me the way is like the weasel’s: open to time and death painlessly,
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Our ancestors used to live a happier life. They were not drown in technology like we are. They lived life as they should to, closer to their instinct. In the past, people had a healthy lifestyle, had more time to spend with their family and friends and were closer to nature. Whereas nowadays, people’s lifestyle has become unhealthy due to modern life. We do not have much physical activity anymore. Besides, as modern humans are busy, we do not spend enough quality time with our family and friends which makes us happy. Moreover, we do not respect the nature which used to be our home. We live too fast without taking a rest for a while and enjoying our life. But as Dillard suggests, we need to be more observant. By taking a look at weasels, we can remember the real meaning of life which is living in the moment, being happy, and noticing everything.
In general, the writer is trying to explain how a brief look of a weasel made her think more deeply about life. And that life is not as complicated as we think of it and live it. Life is composed of all these beautiful and painful moments that we are missing while trying to achieve a goal, to make more money, or while we are reviving memories of past or are daydreaming about the future. As we are trapped by our avarice, weasels live their life freely by following their
In Theodore Isaac Rubin’s essay, “Competition and Happiness”, he summits about how in today’s society its always the battle eat or be eaten. Therefore our parents always tried to get us involved at an early age to help with our self-development, well being, and health. Since our culture has made us believe that competition brings out the best of us. Yet, it simultaneously brings out a stressful, isolating, and paranoid ambiance at a very young age. I agree with Rubin’s notion since the use of our time and energy is determined by competition and limits our happiness because it weakens our sense of identity.
People push being happy on society as a total must in life; sadness is not an option. However, the research that has conducted to the study of happiness speaks otherwise. In this essay Sharon Begley's article "Happiness: Enough Already" critiques and analyzes societies need to be happy and the motivational affects it has on life. Begley believes that individuals do not always have to be happy, and being sad is okay and even good for us. She brings in the research of other professionals to build her claim that extreme constant happiness is not good for people. I strongly agree that we need to experience sadness to build motivation in life and character all around.
. ." (lines 5-7). In this, he tries to begin to explain that in order to truly live the fullest life possible, one must live simply; literally "driv[ing] life into a corner, and reduc[ing] it to its lowest terms" is the only way to achieve fullness. Later, he also states: "Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails. Let us rise early and fast, or break fast, gently and without [disturbance]; let company come and let company go, let the bells ring and the children cry. . ." (lines 13-16). In this, he expresses that one should not let the daily disturbances of life affect oneself. Life should be lived with litle disturbance, and even such disturbances should not be taken as seriously. In choosing to give examples, he shows just how many things go on that one can be pestered with, and that one should choose to ignore them and let them pass by. He also states: "Let us settle ourselves, and work and wedge our feet downward through the mud
The narrator is trapped by their past, and the poem describes it affecting their daily life. They have a black cat they are envious of, because the cat is carefree and does not make the same mistakes that the narrator does. “He refuses to be snared by a single love the way I did” (319). The narrator had gotten trapped by a love that went badly, and left them being broken from it. Their cat does not make this mistake, and is also carefree, “He leaps from the rooftop . . . doesn't dread crossing bridges or dark alleyways” (318). He just lives his life out and is not concerned about any sort of danger, and because of this the narrator is envious of the cat. They cannot act the same way as the cat does, they are too concerned about their life and what happens with it, “He doesn't cling to life as I do” (318). The narrator seems to be trapped by their past, and because of this, it affects the way they live now. They have shut themselves off purposefully, they let their past affect them this much, they corrupted themselves. They know this, and they wish they had not let it happen, this is why they envy their
"The feebleness of our own bodies and the inadequacy of the regulations which adjust the mutual relationships of human beings in the family, the state and society" (Freud) Freud also thinks that there’s sense of frustration in finding happiness. To him, humans were more independent and had more freedom and liberty before the existence of civilization as it limits a lot of someone’s needs and desires.
The society uses one’s happiness to seek their own. Starting with the ancient Adam Smith’s theory of a market economy where commodities are sold and bought in a market freely, where sellers and buyers exchange to achieve profit, and happiness is derived from profit. Thus “happiness is both produced and consumed” (Ahmed 3). Happiness is a matter of research for corporates of big companies. They try to figure out which product makes the buyers feel the happiness they need, so that they can produce more for their own profit. So, they cunningly make commercials with people having a good time. Which when watched by the buyers they get the false sense that their life would be so much better if they bought that small bottle of happiness. Once they buy their “Pandora’s box” they hope that underneath all the unnecessary objects there will be happiness, but they are dispirited at the end. Unknowingly the markets are making the society a more dull and sad place rather than distributing
Through merry and sentimental diction, the speaker joyous life is compared to the sad life of his human. The dog is, “thrillingly”(6) enjoying the world, “sniff[ing]”(4), anything he could find and playing “fetch”(1). The author bounces from one noun to the next allowing the reader to imagine the dog running from one thing to the next, the speaker appears to be carefree and
Society seems to have improved through time, but has not yet reached the point of perfection in which everyone is happy. The truth is, not everyone will always be hap...
In the second epigraph in the short story “St. Lucy’s Home For Girls Raised By wolves’’ by Karen Russell discusses how it’s not easy going from a wolf to being a human. The girls must work hard and try their all to make it. They feel like they don’t belong there, it’s like going from a small school to a big school. They day dream of their old way of life. They feel uncomfortable and depressed.
... snake lived, not stopping to ponder death or the meaning of his life. The poet is referring to living life to its fullest “before he came to the road” (24).
Each person is different, each with different emotions and reactions to their surroundings. People strive to uncover the secrets to the meaning of life. In reality, humans are given the desire to live the way we want and have a critical thinking mind, unlike animals. In the essay Living like Weasels, Annie Dillard believes we should live more carefree and instinctual as weasels, but what we were given as humans is a gift that no other creature has – free will and choice to shape our own lives.
A magnificent creature that just want to feel simple things like freedom, be social, a caress. In this poem I can appreciate the suffering of a creature in captivity whose desire is to experience such elementary things as being the companion of a human and give his love, feeling a touch, a little affection and attention; things that should not be denied to any living creature. This poem is a desperate cry for freedom and what for me are the basic rights of any household animals, such as dogs. Once again I will use some of my work during this course to better explain the feelings of this animal in captivity that only wanted to feel
We might not have the same opinions, paths, and ways of living; but we all, millions of people around the world, share the same purpose of life: Being able to say “I am having a good life!” What we mean by “good life” is living in pure happiness and having a wonderful peace of mind. The difference between us is that each one of us chooses a different way in his pursuit of happiness. Some find it in stability with a big house, a family, and a good paying job. Some find it in adventure and wildness, travel, and taking risks. While others don’t really have specific criteria or an organized plan, they just believe that happiness comes with living each day as if it was the last, with no worries about the rest. Personally, I find it in trying to be the best version of myself, in staying true to my principles, and in the same time in being able to make my own decisions; which reminds me of what George Loewenstein said “Just because we figure out that X makes people happy and they're choosing Y, we don't want to impose X on them.”
who achieve sense of meaning in their lives are happier than those who live from one pleasure to another.
Over the course of our lives, there are times where we are at a high point, where our lives are full of happiness and there is nothing for us to worry about. However, we often come to sit back and realize that our lives might not be exactly how we imagine it. There are problems and obstacles that we must choose to overcome. With the rate society is evolving at, we miss out on the little things like friends and family that makes our lives that much more special. Life can be filled with bliss no matter how bad things may seem and we can find true happiness from fixing these problems to make our lives blissful.