The Meaning Of Life In Annie Dillard's Living Like Weasels

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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 since they live freely, but our freedom has been limited .
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, noticing everything, remembering nothing, choosing the given with a fierce and pointed will.” We can obviously notice the comparison between weasels and humans in this statement. The author believes that as human beings, we …show more content…

Our ancestors used to live a happier life. They were not drowned 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. For example, 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

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