Annie Dillard's Pilgrim at Tinker Creek
Annie Dillard opens Pilgrim at Tinker Creek mysteriously, hinting at an unnamed presence. She toys with the longstanding epic images of battlefields and oracles, injecting an air of holiness and awe into the otherwise ordinary. In language more poetic than prosaic, she sings the beautiful into the mundane. She deifies common and trivial findings. She extracts the most high language from all the possible permutations of words to elevate and exalt the normal. Under her pen, her literary devices and her metaphors, a backyard stream becomes a shrine. Writing a prayer, Dillard becomes an instrument through which a ubiquitous spirit reveals itself. Yet in other cases, she latches on to an image of holiness and makes it ugly, horrifying, disturbing, as if to suggest that the manifestation of all that is holy need not always be pretty, that the gorgeous and the gruesome together comprise all that is holy, and without one the other would be meaningless. The written words are a spiritual pilgrimage to the holy shrine where language tinkers with itself, makes a music unto itself, chips and shapes itself into the stuff of Dillard's essays.
Religious overtones score the text, emerging as references to Islam, Hasidism, and to a lesser extent, Christianity; there are also subtle intimations of mysticism. Dillard plucks the title of the first essay, "Heaven and Earth in Jest," from the Quran, quoting Allah directly. Describing the darkness capping the ocean as "a swaddling band for the sea" (7), a repeated phrase, her diction implies the Christ child. She makes a power evident without ever saying so aloud, explicitly, by naming it. By means of archaic phrasing, she conveys the sense that what ...
... middle of paper ...
...(82). She defines innocence as "the spirit's unself-conscious state at any moment of pure devotion to any object. It is at once a receptiveness and total concentration" (82), combining the lexicon of religion and mystical journey to elucidate how awareness and knowledge can integrate with openness to fulfill the state of innocence. McIlroy understands her pages of scientific and mystical experience in a two-dimensional way, leaving unturned the third dimension where a seeming dichotomy merges and seams together opposites in a contiguous loop designed to illustrate a coherent and encompassing exploration of the outer world of the creek and the inner world of the mind.
Works Cited
Dillard, Annie. Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. New York: Quality Paperback, 1974.
McIlroy, Gary. "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and the Burden of Science." American Literature 59 (1987): 71-84.
As this poem characterizes the view of a native woman expressing feelings of passion relating to her culture, it also criticizes society, in particular Christianity, as the speaker is experiencing feelings of discontent with the outcome of residential schools. It does not directly criticize the faith, but through the use of a heavy native dialect and implications to the Christian faith it becomes simple to read the speakers emotions.
Analyzing innocence has always been a difficult task, not only due to it’s rapid reevaluation in the face of changing societal values, but also due to the highly private and personal nature of the concept. The differences between how people prioritize different types of innocence - childhood desires, intellectual naivety, sexual purity, criminal guilt, etc. - continually obscures the definition of innocence. This can make it difficult for people to sympathize with others’ loss of purity, simply because their definition of that loss will always be dissimilar to the originally expressed idea. Innocence can never truly be adequately described, simply because another will never be able to precisely decipher the other’s words. It is this challenge, the challenge of verbally depicting the isolationism of the corruption of innocence, that Tim O’Brien attempts to endeavour in his fictionalized memoir, The
Emily Dickinson, a transcendentalist author, demonstrates how settings away from society and technology are representations for virtue and individuality. In her poem Some Keep the Sabbath Going to Church she writes about how she stays home on Sundays saying, “I keep it, staying at Home/–With a Bobolink for a Chorister/–And an Orchard, for a Dome” (Some Keep the Sabbath going to Church). Dickinson uses objects of nature such as birds and flowers to convey that she loves nature so much she stays away from society. She basks in her natural haven far from a massive stone cathedral and an orthodox way of life. She is at peace in nature but more importantly she follows her own beliefs and ideas, exhibiting her independence. In Ken Kesey’s writing, one such example of a character who prospers greatly in nature is Billy Bibbit, the stuttering patient from Nurse Ratched’s ward. Throughout the first half of One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Bibbit fails to show any genuine feelings other than fear due to the immense control the nurse has over his life. However, he finds courage on the expansive open ocean. When on the boat trip there is “a fuss as to who'd be the three that braved that [storm] without [life]jackets... Everybody was kind of surprised [when] Billy...volunteered...and helped the girl right into [his]” (252). Bibbit acts like a hero on the stormy seas, a far different
Therefore, Oliver’s incorporation of imagery, setting, and mood to control the perspective of her own poem, as well as to further build the contrast she establishes through the speaker, serves a critical role in creating the lesson of the work. Oliver’s poem essentially gives the poet an ultimatum; either he can go to the “cave behind all that / jubilation” (10-11) produced by a waterfall to “drip with despair” (14) without disturbing the world with his misery, or, instead, he can mimic the thrush who sings its poetry from a “green branch” (15) on which the “passing foil of the water” (16) gently brushes its feathers. The contrast between these two images is quite pronounced, and the intention of such description is to persuade the audience by setting their mood towards the two poets to match that of the speaker. The most apparent difference between these two depictions is the gracelessness of the first versus the gracefulness of the second. Within the poem’s content, the setting has been skillfully intertwined with both imagery and mood to create an understanding of the two poets, whose surroundings characterize them. The poet stands alone in a cave “to cry aloud for [his] / mistakes” while the thrush shares its beautiful and lovely music with the world (1-2). As such, the overall function of these three elements within the poem is to portray the
In this analysis, we will be looking at just how Flannery O'Connor accomplished this seemingly impossible task, non-didactic Christian fiction, by examining elements of faith, elements of style, and thematic elements in her writing. While secondary sources are included for perspective, I have focused primarily upon Miss O'Connor's own essays and speeches in my examination of the writer's motivations, attitudes, and technique, most of which are contained in the posthumous collection Mystery and Manners. Unlike some more cryptic writers, O'Connor was happy to discuss the conceptual and philosophical underpinnings of her stories, and this candor is a godsend for the researcher that seeks to know what "makes the writer tick."
...erm can be used so widely that it can mean completely different things when taken out of context. The standard Webster’s dictionary has over five definitions for innocence. Its complexity and impact in the human life is so great that physiologists have stated that most adult conflicts involve a problem or disruption of one’s childhood. Harold Bloom has said that many disputes and conflicts in modern day life would be non-existent if a person maintained innocence throughout their aging life. Historians trace back the use of innocence to the Enlightenment, where it was thought that man was created to be good, until his institutions corrupted him. Innocence can also be traced as far back as biblical times. It has been said that the “original sin” by Adam and Eve was the first instance of a loss of innocence. By comparing two novels that use innocence as a theme, as done above, it is evident that innocence is widely dependent on the context in which it is used. There is no clear definitive answer to what the true meaning of innocence is. It can only be stated that the definition of innocence is dynamic with respect to the author and the time period, in which the literature is written.
From my late teens, into my mid-twenties, I was a smoker. At first, it was just recreational; however that changed fairly quickly. I began buying them and smoking regularly throughout the day. It then progressed to smoking a pack per day until it was too late. I was officially addicted. I knew it was a terrible habit and I was shamed of it and would hide it from friends and family hoping they wouldn’t find out. Finally, after coughing hacking, and repeatedly getting sick several times a year, I came to the realization that I had to quit. However, it wasn’t as easy as I had anticipated. After relapsing several times before I was finally able to quit, I broke this terrible habit successfully. It was an extremely difficult habit to break and I’ll never go back. I was a lucky individual who had the mental toughness and willpower to overcome this strong addiction, but Americans struggle to quit each year, and many never do. However, there’s a new product on the market today called electronic cigarettes that are believed to aid individuals in the fight against addiction. It’s a battery powered device that heats a nicotine diluted solution into a vapor that is then inhaled. It’s believed to be a healthier, more affordable alternative to tobacco cigarettes. It is much safer because it doesn’t have nearly as many harmful chemicals as tobacco cigarettes and it’s believed to be much more affordable for consumers. However, many critics believe that electronic cigarettes are extremely addictive and just as harmful. Although electronic cigarettes are believed to be detrimental to people’s heath due to low quality product standards, harmful components in filling solution, and reports suggesting they’re addictive and just as harmful as toba...
In conclusion, both poems are clear on the perspectives of innocence and the perspectives of experience and while experience lifts the veil of innocence it does not erase the raw belief that there is some place or someone who may just be better or may just be holy in a harsh world that is covered by manmade innocence.
From 1775 to 1830, developments like that of Eli Whitney’s cotton gin in 1793, the 1803 Louisiana Purchase by the U.S., and the rise of the textile industry in England led to a great expansion of slavery. Concurrently, abolitionist reform movement rose in the north as anti-slavery sentiment increased, with a growing fear of slaves unbalancing the political landscape in representation for the South. During this time, freed African Americans were often imperative in helping those who were enslaved face their challenges through their efforts, while some of the challenges faced by freed slaves was because of the ideas stemming from slavery. In facing their challenges, freed blacks adopted strategies such as leaving America, and arguing their case for rights, while slaves looked to rebellion and disobedience, with the help of freed blacks, in order to advance. Without slavery, freed black would not have faced many of the challenges that they did, and so too, without the aid of freed blacks, many slaves couldn't have overcome their obstacles to emancipation.
Pizer, Donald. Dictionary of Literary Biography Volume 12 : American Realists and Naturalists . Boston: The Gale Group, 1982.
Loss of innocence can happen in many ways. Some losses are enormous and hugely impactful, like killing, while others are small and subtle like growing up. Innocence is lost in the most innocuous ways, most of which aren’t noticeable, which brings this paper to a closing question, something implied through both of these works; something to think about. Is every loss of innocence bad, or are they just stepping stones on the path to becoming an adult?
Walls, Laura Dassow. Seeing New Worlds: Henry David Thoreau and Nineteenth-Century Natural Science. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1995.
Innocence is usually associated with youth and ignorance. The loss of one’s innocence is associated with the evils of the world. However, the term “innocence” can be interpreted in a variety of ways. Similarly, the loss of one’s innocence can be interpreted in more than one way, and, depending on the interpretation, it may happen numerous times. The loss of innocence is culture specific and involves something that society holds sacrosanct. It is also bounded by different religious beliefs. Still, no matter which culture or religion is at hand, there is always more than one way to lose one’s innocence, and every member of that particular culture or religion experiences a loss of innocence at least once in their lives. In addition, the individual’s loss of innocence will impair him or her emotionally and/or physically.
Dupré, Louis, and James A. Wiseman, eds. Light from Light: An Anthology of Christian Mysticism. New York: Paulist Press, 1988.
Religion is defined differently by different cultures and experiences, therefore; children and adults views differ greatly. Songs of Innocence was written from the point of view of children who only knew of “innocent wonderment and spontaneity in natural settings” (Literature). In The Lamb, Blake