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 .
Read Living Like Weasels
Read the essay first to get a sense of Dillard's style, the way she combines concrete description with abstract exposition (examining this relationship between ideas and examples is critical to every essay you read). Then read the essay a second time and underline sentences which best explain how her encounter with the weasel makes her reflect on her life and the life of human beings in general.
After you have read the essay a second time, try 15 minutes of freewriting. 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" is a meditation on human and animal nature. Dillard wants to understand the weasel's way of life, the qualities which define its essence. By studying the weasel, she discovers something about herself, what it means to be human. The weasel lives according to a different set of principles, ones Dillard hopes she can incorporate into her life. Dillard sees much to admire in the weasel. 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.
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Explain Dillard's conception of the word "wild" as she derives it from the weasel and as she applies it to herself (her personal philosophy of how one should live life).
Some ideas to consider:
The weasel is "wild" in the truest sense of that word. Dillard says in several places that the weasel operates on instinct; it is programmed to be what it is out of necessity (or nature) and not choice. Look for passages in which she describes the physical (how it looks) and behavioral (how it acts) traits of the weasel. Be prepared to explain what makes a weasel "wild."
Dillard admits that she cannot live exactly as the weasel does, but she can try to adopt some of its qualities, integrating them into her life and consciousness. The weasel's "tape" is different from her own, and her encounter with this other brain makes her examine the ways she is programmed to react. In what way does Dillard wish to become more "weasel-like"? Why does she find this an attractive prospect? What does she mean when she says she could "calmly go wild"?
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