The connection I made with Annie's piece was strong as she made the connection to feeling like falling down that hole in sleep, which happens to me a lot. A second connection she created that I guarantee a lot of people follow is "I have forgotten, I assume, a great many things I wanted to remember..". It's easily one of the most common occurrences day in and day out with people everywhere. These connections along with intelligent wording were among the many things that kept me reading.
In description of the eclipse throughout the piece, her pictures were quite intense. She left nothing to the imagination, which allowed me as I read to picture every detail perfectly. One of my favorites was "Long winter-killed grass covered it, as high as our knees" along with "The sky snapped over the sun like a lens cover". Small but active statements such as these kept me engaged, even if I didn't fully understand what message Annie was trying to relay all of the time.
Within the conclusion of Dillard's story, she shines light upon some strong ideas she holds such as the ability to wake up and actually appreciate life's beauty and everything it has to offer. People are in constant need of a reminder of this nowadays, and she did it in a beautiful way, tying it into the end of her trip and description of the beautiful eclipse she experienced. There's no doubt that Dillard is a phenomenal writer, and she makes that very evident throughout each 'painting' in this piece.
Hey Allison! I have to agree with you that this was a very descriptive story. Though at times I felt like it was almost too descriptive. Though the description of the clown painting was very vivid, I found it random and confusing.
ReplyDeleteI found the conclusion delightful as well. We really do need to start to appreciate more things in life. She talked about something extraordinary, the eclipse, and something so simply, like the painting. Maybe that is why she put that detail in, to point out you can appreciate even the small things in life.