Analysis Of The Deer At Providencia

Life’s Agony[SM1]

In Annie Dillard’s narrative, “The Deer at Providencia,” she reveals her awareness of and confusion regarding suffering by paralleling human and animal anguish and dignity. On a trip to Ecuador with a North American group in the village of Providencia, Dillard witnesses the suffering of a small deer. Her lack of reaction to the suffering deer stuns the travelers; however, Dillard intentionally conditions her awareness of suffering by encountering an article about a burn victim daily in America (M.S. 4) Posting the article on her mirror, Dillard strengthens her realistic perception regarding suffering and divulges her confusion regarding the ambiguity, inevitability, and vulnerability of agony for all beings. Recounting[SM2]

Dillard’s inquisitive tone reflects her strife to understand the incomprehensible suffering of others. Confused about the randomness of suffering, Dillard asks, “Will someone please explain to Alan McDonald in his dignity, to the deer at Providencia in his dignity, what is going on? And mail me the carbon” (Dillard, 1984, p.102). (M.S. 8) Dillard indicates her confusion by directly asking for “someone to please explain what is going on.” Dillard’s tone demands for someone to “mail her the carbon” if they discover the answer. She does not phrase her sentence as a question, but as an imperative statement. (M.S. 3) Dillard also implements a tone of exasperation amongst the North American travelers. The travelers expect Dillard to attempt to rescue the deer or at least appear distraught; instead, the travelers perceive Dillard’s lack of reaction as disconnected. However, Dillard’s reaction likewise reveals her intense knowledge of the deer’s suffering as inevitable. Dillard addresses the travelers by asking, “Gentlemen of the city, what surprises you? That there is suffering here, or that I know it” (Dillard, 1982, p.100)? Dillard’s defends her awareness of suffering by straightforwardly affirming her understanding of affliction by her expression, “or that I know it.” Dillard’s tone of inquisition and exasperation throughout her story verifies her

(M.S. 5) Dillard and the other tourists watch a feeble deer struggle to escape from a trap. In her narrative, Dillard depicts the deer’s suffering, “The rope twanged; the tree leaves clattered; the deer’s free foot beat the ground” (Dillard, 1982, p.99). Dillard precisely structures the sentence for a verb to follow each noun such as, ‘the rope’, ‘the tree’, and ‘the deer’. The verbs following each noun, separated by a semicolon, includes, ‘twanged;’ ‘clattered;’ and ‘beats.’ This sentence structure decelerates the flow of the passage; therefore, stressing the deer’s slow, long, and painful suffering. Dillard continues to emphasize the deer’s agony to portray her awareness of its suffering. Dillard recalls, “Its hip jerked; its spine shook. Its eyes rolled; ...” (Dillard, 1982, p.99). Dillard’s parallel sentence structure begins by referring to the subject as ‘its’ and ends each sentence predicate with a verb such as, ‘jerked’, ‘shook’, and ‘rolled’. Dillard’s repetition of the subject intensifies the misery the deer experiences. Dillard’s description of the deer also leads to her confusion regarding the unpredictably of suffering; because the deer’s anguish contrasts her comfortable, yet vulnerable