Response To Death Of A Moth

Annie Dillard's essay "The Death Of A Moth" made no sense to me when I initially read it, in a "sleep-deprived" state. In the haze my mind was in, during the battle with my body and my desire to read this essay, all I could make out was that; she berated the small cat about her short-term memory before kicking her out of the bed they shared. She then proceeded to the bathroom to consort with a spider whose attire reminded her of a day when she murdered a moth. She spoke about the carnage, her sharply dressed friend the spider left, behind the toilet, seemingly admiring the skillful way in which the evidence of the massacre was displayed.

In and out of my conscious state at this point, I remembered the speech Dr. Brundle gave to Veronica (in the 1986 movie "The Fly") about "Insect-Politics" or rather, the lack of, which leads to intense brutality in their insect society; oh my God! Is that what's going on in the bathroom? At this point I'm thinking, maybe, I should just acquiesce and end this battle between body and soul. It's at that point that I put down Ms. Dillard's essay, which, at this time was merely a "confession of guilt."

When I arose from a much-needed rest and returned to the "Death of A Moth" I found restored interpretive skills that incited a newfound interest & revelation of this essay's purport. I was able to see with new eyes that Annie's confession was actually one of self-discovery not guilt, although she does admit to participating in the death of a moth it's certainly not the type of punishable offence, I mistakenly thought it was.

This essay introduces its readers to Amy, a young woman who lives a solitary life with her cat, whose name is "Small" with whom she has a very playful, yet inquisitive morning ritual. Upon further inspection of this story, the association she admitted having with the spider that hangs out in her bathroom, lays the foundation for her personal unearthing; with the analytical prowess of a crime scene investigator, she meticulously identifies the remains of the spider's insect victims, left beneath it's web.

It's during this examination she ends up in a state of retrospection over an incident, two years earlier in the Virginia mountains, where she tirelessly reads, James Ramsey Ullman's book "The Day on Fire" in order to re-awaken her passion for writing. During this time of introspection,