...In reading the Death of the Moth, I found a broad choice of rhetorical devices that make this story increasingly powerful yet straightforward. Despite the fact that this story is fairly short, Virginia Woolf, the author, is still capable to write such a detailed story with a forceful type of metaphor. A device that Woolf uses in her story that I caught right away was parallelism, which occurred when I read, “That was all he could do, in spite of the size of the downs, the width of the sky, the far-off smoke of houses, and the romantic voice, now and then, of a steamer out at sea.” (Woolf 2). When I continued to read the story, Woolf used an impressive sentence regarding a hyperbole which is introduced in this following sentence, “One could...
Words: 429 - Pages: 2
...are all aware of death, and we know that one day it will come to us. For many of us the subject of death brings an awful chill down our spines. Unfortunately, we all must face death in the end. Since true fear stems off having a lack of knowledge for a subject, which makes death a powerful and fearful subject. Because of this fear, of such a simple yet powerful aspect of our natural lives, people try to fend it off, not even seeing that it is an inevitable act. They try to believe that there is a way to fend off the ‘enemy’ and go against the tide of nature. However ever in the middle of death there is true beauty even in the unlikely of creatures. In two essays the most unsuspecting characters take on death in a different perspective from the way we as group sees it. In the story "The Death of the Moth" by Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard’s essay, “Living Like Weasels” both touch on such insignificant creatures and the dynamic between life and death. While we cower at the face of death the moth and the weasel face death in a more valiant way. Both of these creatures that we do not even give a second thought in our day to day lives, live and die with more appreciation, and it is admirable. In “The Death of the Moth” and “Living Like Weasels” the speakers show the smallest of creatures living with strength even as they face death and how they reflect life in their small presence. It is comparable that we as a group lives with the same vigor as the moth, but once being on...
Words: 1350 - Pages: 6
