Analysis Of The Death Of A Moth By Annie Dillard

Most writers love to pick the topic of life and death as they are the mystifying kind of things that always make human left wondering. In Annie Dillard’s essay, “The Death of a Moth”, she heavily puts her focus towards the moth’s behavior when dying. Readers generally would think that she is a different type of author to write four pages of essay talking about moths. Also, she mentions lots of details about the variety of bugs in her bathroom which somehow is disturbing to some people when reading this essay for the first time. Moths that die seem very insignificant and quite straightforward. However, if we take the initiative to delve into her piece, we could see the hidden meaning behind the death of the moths. Her interaction with moths

in two different scenes, in the bathroom, and during camping, are not mere and meaningless insects. In fact, those illustrate the essence of the human life.
Briefly introduced, Dillard is a well-known American author especially in her both fiction and non-fiction works.

Early in the essay, she describes herself living alone with her two cats, and she, somehow, makes joke with them although it was not so sure how often she did that in a day. There we can see that she is solitary, yet has some sense of humor lies in herself. Revealing her living environment, that would signal the reader about the upcoming adventure of her with the moths. Some may question why Dillard chose Moths instead of other interesting bugs like a caterpillar or flies to relate to human life. Plus, she does not only explain how the moths dies, but also provides a vivid detail of them dying so that the reader to

ponder.
In my humble opinion, moths are quite little and fragile insects. Their invulnerability makes them be a good sample to highlight one of the central themes of this essay that each creature will serve a role right after their demise. When one loses something, others will gain something else, and the cycle kept repeating endlessly. Dillards denotes the purpose of each particular being even after death by describing how the moth when burned in the candle, it still has a meaning which allows the candle to ignite even brighter. This is when, in detail, she explains that during her camping that a “big and golden moth” fly to the candle, it then “flapped into the fire, drooped abdomen into the wet wax, stuck, flamed, and frazzled in a second” (p.3). Then she adds more description that the moth “become a wick” for the flame to burn beamer and it continues to “burn for several hours although it is already dead” and apparently she just sitting there letting the moths suffer from death.
Furthermore, in her essay, Dillard states that a “saffron-yellow flame that robed the moth to the ground is just like an immolating monk” (p.3). Apparently, she wants to set an example and a real world connection that would emphasize the theme more. Such a sad incident where a group of Buddhist monks set themselves on fire and as a result, they died, took place in Saigon, and the burning was to show their protest towards Diem regime. By doing so, they had successfully gained the world’s attention to their predicament even though it would cost them their life. In her writing, Dillard stresses that every loss may it be explicit like the moth or implicit like the monks, both are not a total loss, instead are balanced by other gain or benefit. Initially, Dillard goes to the camp to read the book of “The Day on Fire, by James Ullman,” so that she can achieve her mood to write back, but it turned out that the Moth’s death is the one that inspires her instead. In this case, the moth’s loss (death) is balanced by Dillard’s gain (this essay).
There is also, a beautiful quote that wanders in my mind when reading Dillard’s essay that I get from my parents since I always ask them to motivate me on how to approach my life better.

They came up with “I would rather be ashes than dust” by Jack London, an American novelist. Such a profound advice is so related to both moths that in life, we always have two options which are either we can conform to things and do good acts, or simply run through life, and settle for things, and end up being dust. To me, it is better to make some sacrifices and achieve great things and be remembered by that deeds, just like the burning moths, rather than not dare to try and consigned to be

oblivion.
Apart from relating the moth with the death, such an overwhelmingly imagery and visual details in her essay perhaps want to propose her love towards writing. In this case, the moth would symbolize her enthusiasm of writing. Initially, she describes that her once passionate love for writing write has wilted, died and long gone. This is the moment when she tells that “the moth has become a corpse on her bathroom’s floor killed by the spider” (p.1). Later she mentions that “as the moth burned for two hours to death, it appears as if it is glowing through the hollow saint” (p.3). Although the spider and the fire turn the moth into a corpse, which means it kills her desire of writing, again, the same fire had revived her passion for writing, and this leads to the next significant theme in the essay that even the smallest and hidden events could bring a tremendous impact on one’s life. Now, Dillard is back on track to write and thanks to the glowing moth that helped her to generate the change in her.
In a different view, we would see that somehow, the scene of the dying moth depict a symbol of the determination to create inspiration. Both moths in her essay die in a painful way. They have a pair of big wing and can fly wherever they intend to, but they are too easy to get distracted and be influenced, although it may cause them harm such as towards the bright light, and eventually it consumes themselves. Same goes for our focus on particular things; it is so easy for us to lose it when external forces make us get distracted. The moth, to me, would indicate ourselves which always have a potential to be meaningful. The “flame”, meanwhile, suggest the inspiration. As the “moth” morph into the flame, it is no longer a natural “moth”, instead it is something meaningful especially for Dillard when watching it. Anything can transform to become a source of inspiration.
Comparatively, in her other pieces of writing, “Transfiguration”, which she had made some changes to her earlier essay, “The Death of a Moth”, she asks her students if they want to become a writer someday in the future. Her ultimate goal is that all of them would wish to be a writer, but if not, still, she urges them to pursue their passion and achieve eminence. To reach that level, they need to risk everything they have and give their best effort to get what they wish for. Dillards makes a clear lesson to her students including the reader through this essay to be like the moths that are drawn to the light or the flame or their burning desire rather than be like the perished bathroom floor moth. The fire moths that died are so alive as they burned like a candle wit, show how one looks like when they are willing to give everything they own, to achieve their dream.
In conclusion, based on her essay, I learned that we should not take small things around us for granted. Dillards was moved by watching the moths in two different scenarios although she expects other things like her reading to do make that happen. Even the simplest insects like moths do have meaning, so let's take a moment to re-evaluate the important things in our life that we usually do not take heed to.