Annie Dillard was born in 1945, the oldest of three daughters, to affluent parents. Her parents encouraged her to be creative and explore her surroundings. They taught her to have a good sense of humor. Her mother was defiant, a non-conformist, and incredibly energetic. Her father taught her everything from plumbing to economics to the intricacies of Jack Kerouac's On The Road. Annie enjoyed a childhood filled with many good memories - days of piano and dance classes, and rock and bug collecting.
During her high school years, Annie rebelled against her affluent, country club upbringing. She hated everyone, and got into trouble in school. Around this time, her academic interests turned to poetry. She was particularly interested in Ralph Waldo Emerson.She also wrote a lot of poetry on her own, sometimes using her own style, sometimes trying to imitate her favorite authors. During these rebellious teenage years, she quit her fundamentalist Presbyterian church because of the "hypocrisy"; however, the priest was able to lure her back a month later with a well-thought-out argument based on the works of C.S. Lewis.
After high school graduation, Annie went to college at Hollins College, near Roanoke, Virginia and studied English, theology, and creative writing. She married her writing teacher, Richard Dillard (her maiden name is Doak) -- the person she says "taught her everything she knows" {Smith, 7} about writing. In 1968 she graduated with a Masters in English, after writing a 40-page thesis on Henry David Thoreau's Walden, which focused on the use of Walden Pond as "the central image and focal point for Thoreau's narrative movement between heaven and earth." {Smith, 7}.
After her college years, Annie became, as she says, "spiritually promiscuous," incorporating the ideas of many religious systems into her own personal religious world-view. Annie eventually converted to the Catholic Church. After a near fatal attack of pneumonia in 1971, Dillard decided that she needed to experience life more fully. She spent four seasons living near Tinker Creek, an area surrounded by forests, creeks, mountains, and a myriad of animal life. Like Thoreau, Dillard kept a journal of her experiences and later switched to notecards when the journal reached 20-plus volumes. Dillard became increasingly obsessed with her writings, spending 15 to 16 hours a day on her journal, cloistered away from the world outside.
These writings were later published in the critically acclaimed Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Despite her nonconformist attitudes, Dillard was hesitant to publish this work under her own name, believing that a theology book by a woman would not be well-received. However, she went ahead and published the book, and in 1975 received the Pulitzer Prize.
Dillard divorced and remarried several times over the years. She is currently an Adjunct Professor of English and a Writer in Residence at Wesleyan University; Dillard also tours the country as a speaker and reader .
You will find a copy of Dillard's "Living Like Weasels" on p. 91 of your Borzoi Reader. You may also click the blue link below to read a copy:
Please read this essay more than once! First get a sense of Dillard's style--she often writes elaborate sentences that have a breath-taking, break-neck pace to them. She loves to concretely describe her environment and draws upon anecdotes (story-examples) and imaginative uses of language such as simile (as when she compares the weasel to an arrow) and metaphor. Then read again trying to piece together her message, her purpose for writing. Struggle through her abstract exposition and unravel her images (examining this relationship between ideas and examples is critical to every essay you read). Underline or highlight sentences which best explain how her encounter with the weasel made her reflect on her life and human life in general.
After you have read the essay a second time, you might want to try a focused freewrite. Respond to the essay in a personal way. What did you enjoy? What confused you? What would you like to know more about?
Annie Dillard's "Living Like Weasels" gets philosophical because she ponders human and animal nature. Dillard wants to experience the weasel's essence as a wild animal, identifying on some level (aren't we all, to a certain extent, animals ourselves?) with the qualities which make it special. By studying the weasel, she discovers something about herself, about how she wishes to life life. The weasel lives according to a set of principles which Dillard admires. What does it mean to her to live like a weasel? What possibilities might that open? We want to understand what the encounter with the weasel means to her, what it teaches her about herself and how she believes it is best for a person to live.
After you've read the essay at least twice, please register your dominant
impression of "Living Like Weasels" on our ballot box.
Check the course calendar for due dates
This paper should be four full pages long. Here is the assignment:
Explain the physical (how it looks) and behaviorial (how it acts) qualities of the weasel which make Dillard call it "wild". Explain how she applies this idea of being wild to her life (the way she wants to live life).
Some ideas to consider:
"Explain" means to analyze deeply the ideas in the reading. Dillard spends
time helping us get to know the wild weasel--its appearance, habits, personality,
etc. Focus part one of your analysis on how Dillard educates us about
the weasel's wild ways.
Dillard spents time developing a contrast between what she calls "living
in necessity" versus "living in choice." She wants us to appreciate that
the weasel has a different "tape" than we do. Part two of your analysis
should explain what aspect of her nature Dillard is trying to tap into/get
in touch with. How can she take a page out of this wild weasel's book?
What changes could she make in her life? How might she be better off as a
person?
Read the instructions for Homework Assigment #1
Remember--these samples are not intended as source material. Avoid plagiarism--Do not copy language (phrases, clauses, etc.) from these samples or from anything you find on the course website!
View the grading scale for Essay #1
Review the Statement on Plagiarism