Dillard - Journal #2

1. How are the moths in the essay’s opening different from the moth at the campsite? What do the different moths represent?

The moth in the opening is different from the one at the campsite because that moth didn’t “pursue its dreams”. It just died without following its fire, or passion. The moth at the campsite pursued the fire and died for its passion.




2. What lesson does the moth provide that Dillard takes back to her students?

The lesson that the moth provides is that we should die for out fire, which is our passion. We should want to do anything for it. We shouldn’t be like the first moth that died by living a comfortable life and not going to the fire.




3. How many references are there to fire in the essay? What’s the larger significance of fire in the essay?

There are 11 references to fire. The later significance for fire is someone’s passion and what they love to do.



4. Address how each of the following quotes connect to Dillard’s overall point.

a. “I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time.”
-Jack London

He says that he would rather be ashes than dust. In the essay, she was contrasting the moth that died and turned to dust to the moth that pursued the fire and turned to ashes. He talks about burning instead of dying a regular death, like the moths.

b. “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
-William Butler Yeats

This quote used fire as a metaphor. The essay also frequently used fire to symbolize something deeper. In this quote, fire is a passionate word.


c. “A book should serve as the ax for the frozen sea within us.”
-Franz Kafka

The essay also uses an ax as a symbol. The quote is saying that a book should open our soul and release our passion from within. In the essay, Dillard says that we should take life with a broadax. She means that we should go at life with a passion and be willing to die for what we love.