Total Eclipse: Annie Dillard (White Ring Passage)

9/30/14
10:17 p.m



Throughout Total Eclipse, a passage on page 485, stood out to me. The passage addresses the authors reasoning and symbolism behind the white ring that has formed due to the eclipse. The passage stood out to me because it represents what the author was thinking during the time she was watching the eclipse. The words that she uses seem harsh, as though she is trying to send a dark message out to the audience. The passage talks about death and how everyone on earth has,"died in our (their) boots" and they were, "alone in eternity" and "cared for nothing". The passage stands out to me due to the fact that, I would have though an eclipse would be a happy and memorable, but the way the author describes it, the memory seems sad. I like that she is able to portray how she really feels about the eclipse. The passage sets an image in my mind about how dark this moment may be on top of the hill that night. The only thing that I am not particularly fond of is how we can not relate to the death that she is describing. Dillard's goal in writing this is to show the reader now dark and scary this moment was for the author. She is trying to get the audience to experience part of what she had when the author was in the moment. When writing this passage, I agree that it fits into the rest of the essay because it is using unfamiliar objects to help describe something that is also unfamiliar. This paragraph talks about death, and as a reader, we do not know what it feels like to die, but we can still connect to the passage because of the imagery she uses. I also think it fits into the work as a whole because a few passages later, the white ring is brought up again, this time in a different light. The ring is portrayed as something happy that can control life. I think this helps to show perspective throughout the essay and each person watching the eclipse is going to have different feelings and thoughts towards it.