A Desire For Certainty

             I read Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse" more than a few times to understand what she was writing about. It is obvious that she isn't just writing to tell us about an eclipse that she saw. If she were, she would not have waited two years to write it, she would have started writing as soon as it was over. Something happened two years later that made Dillard to remember the eclipse. Her essay has a parallel connection with how people view and think about death. People enjoy uncertainty, to an extent. They want to experience death, without dying, because it is exhilarating, or exciting.
             As Dillard talks about events leading up to the eclipse you will find a connection of uncertainty, the same uncertainty that goes along with being scared when you are watching a scary movie. Dillard writes, "It looked as though we had gathered on hilltops to pray for the world on its last day. It looked as though we had crawled out of spaceships and were preparing to assault the valley below. It looked as though we were scattered on hilltops to sacrifice virgins, make rain, set stone stalae in a ring." Dillard shows uncertainty with this parallel construction, "It looked as though we..." numerous possibilities for the same situation. Dillard knows that something big is coming, she has an anticipation that what she knows is coming is somewhat unknown. A student in class discussion on Dillard's essay said, "Humans have an ability to live in danger, but a desire for certainty." We do not know when or how we will die, but we know that it will happen one day. Death is a fact of life.
             Dillard makes many references to death when she is talking about the eclipse. It is not to say that the eclipse represents dying, because when the eclipse ends the world is back to normal. What Dillard is trying to show is the thrill and exhilaration that comes with the entertainment of uncertainty. D
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A Desire For Certainty. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 14:07, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/27318.html