When I opened up "Total Eclipse" by Annie Dillard and began to read, only one word crossed my mind--confusion. It seemed as though she was bouncing around to different subjects, making it almost impossible to find the true moral of the story. Finally, towards the end of the story, all of her pointless stories came together to make one, beautiful meaning. I think Dillard is trying to give her audience the best advice possible: live life in the moment.
It seemed as though reflecting on the six old men glued to the television, or the painting of the vegetable clown were simple, meaningless thoughts. Instead, these 'pointless' thoughts were reflections of the life she has chosen to live. As she is getting older, it is time to pass the torch onto the younger generation as it is "their time to live." I think in that passage she was admitting that she had done all the living she wanted to do, and it was time to relax in a comfortable, laid-back lifestyle. But because she had agreed to pass on the torch, she began reliving her life choices and as they all rushed back to her during the eclipse. I think that the different parts of the eclipse symbolized the vast moments of her life. The sun rising was resembling her birth and early years, and the dark dragon resembled the dark times in her life or the bad decisions she made. The white life saver or ring towards the end of the eclipses was the most important of all. I think it was the silver lining--the promise from God that despite the darkness, the light will always shine through. And as they left the incredibly tall hill, she spotted the partial eclipse; good was finally overcoming evil and taking it's rightful place. That was the ultimate sign that she was going to make it through whatever life threw at her.
Through all of the reflection, I think Dillard finally realized the moral of the story. She wanted to spread the message that she received from God in that rare sight of the eclipse--live life in the moment. It seemed as though everyone around her was always in a rush and distracted from the natural beauty of the earth. As she admitted she was done living, she wanted to spread the greatest advice she could give to the next generation so that they could live as fully as she did.
The reason that it is so easy to comprehend this message from Dillard's story is because of all the metaphors she slipped in. To fully describe the eclipse, she compared the moon to a dragon and the ring of light to a white life saver. Her reactions to the different parts of the eclipse were described so well in metaphors, I felt as though I was there along beside her experiencing the same feelings. Before reading this article, I had no idea how much of an effect metaphors can have on your writing, and it encouraged me to use many more in my writing.
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