Journal #2

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

In the beginning of the essay, the moths start out as already dead. They were killed by a spider in the web. In the campfire scene, the moths are flying around the campfire, obviously alive. The two moths represent of the two ways a person can take life and showing people how to live life by saying that take the risk and die bright and adventurous.

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

The moths by the fire provide the lesson of taking risks and having fun with life, because you only live once. Also it is about “quality over quantity.” A good quote to describe this is the quote “life is not about how many breaths you take, but by how many moments that take your breath away.”

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

There are about three mentions mentions of fire in the essay. The significance of fire is that it burns up the moths, and that she leaves a candle lit while she sleeps. She leaves the fire burning to try to copy the moth’s life by taking risks.

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

They are saying that they would rather be noticed, the will away in the background dull and unseen, which is much like the author of this essay because the author would rather take risks and have fun than be safe and bored.

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

-William Butler Yeats

It relates to the essay because they both refer to the idea of being passionate about learning and not just absorbing the information, but understanding it and being inspired by it.

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

It relates because they both talk about an ax, and how a person needs to approach life full, and not half heartily.