A Comparison Of The Moth In A Tale Of Two Cities

Like much of Love's Labor's Lost, the young character Moth is full of paradox. When Shakespeare has little Moth play great Hercules in the "Nine Worthies," the playwright offers humor in contrasting the physiques of the actor with his role, or as Armado puts it, Moth "is not quantity enough" (5.2.130) to play the Greek god. However, Shakespeare may also be using this contradiction to compare physical strength with mental. Although physical ability doesn't carry significance in Love's Labor's Lost, mental ability does, and Moth (mentally superior to his contemporaries) proves himself worthy of a high status. Using Moth as a Herculean figure is one of the most obvious paradoxes in the

In the short story “The Moths” by Helena Maria Viramontes, the author uses symbolism and characterization to paint the scene of a girl in a literary fiction that has lost her way and ends up finding herself within her Grandmother through the cycles of life. Through the eyes of an unnamed girl we relive a past that has both a traumatic ending and a new leash on life; however, we do not get there without first being shown the way, enter “The Moths”.

"The Death of the Moth," written by Virginia Woolf, explains the brief life of a moth corresponding with the true nature of life and death. In this essay, Woolf puts the moth in a role that represents life. Woolf makes comparisons of the life outside to the life of the moth. The theme is the mystery of death and the correspondence of the life of the moth with the true nature of life. The images created by Woolf are presented that appeal to the eye. For instance, the moth's body during the death is appealing to the eye. The image makes the reader more interested. The essence of true life is energy. As Woolf describes, "I could fancy that a thread of vital light became visible. He was

Contrary to many people, including Woolf’s, beliefs, death is not the end of life. The moth becomes bigger than itself. It was a normal moth, yet its untimely death benefitted Dillard. Though reading a book may not be considered great, Dillard enjoys it, and would not have been able to enjoy it without the ultimate sacrifice performed by the mere moth, which became bigger in a single moment.

To conclude, Annie Dillard’s piece “The Death of the Moth;” is about Dillard being reminded of the death of a moth she observes and how it relates to herself, this piece is a great depiction of the impact of life and death. She talks about her personal experience in a tone that

Analyzing her newfound appreciation sanctions Woolf to remind herself that life is precious. Reminding herself of life 's grandeur enables Woolf to then transfer the tone into her writing. Conveying the value of life, changes Woolf’s perspective. She values life more, but as she has learned earlier from the moth, sadness is inherent; sadness is brought by tragedy, like dying. Conclusively, Woolf’s use of pathos in her writing enabled her to present a clear tone, which contributed to the theme that death is inevitable.

The Moths by Helena Maria Viramontes is a short story about a relationship between a teenage girl and her abuelita. Although, the title seems unfitting for a story about a loving relationship between family members the significance of the moths, in this story, has a much deeper meaning than one would think. Like many other aspects of the piece, the insects have a symbolic meaning in order to convey the author’s feelings during the time of her grandmother’s death. Throughout the story we see the use of multiple descriptions, settings, as well as dialogue in order to pass a message to the audience. The Moths is not only a story about death and brokenness, but a story about cures and peace. Upon further examination of this narrative, the story presents symbolic attributes about the main characters personalities, descriptions, and religious imagery that tell the story about a cure for brokenness, a rebirth of hope, and coming of age.

The narrator wanted nothing more than to be with her Abuelita who tells her of “the moths that lay within the soul and slowly eat the spirit up.” Viramontes “The Moths” symbolizes the struggles that weight on us the things that oppress us and consume the human spirit due to lack of conformity. We see these things circling about the narrator as the moths “circling the single dull light bulb of the

Glenn Irwin’s “Two Butterflies” demonstrates a movement in age and development of experience through the images of two distinct butterflies. The ideas Irwin articulates about age and experience with this imagery also serve to show the disconnect between nature and civilization over time. The poem is divided into two stanzas: morning and evening. Likewise, there are two butterflies: morning and evening. The morning butterfly has only just completed his transition stage. He is faced with the beginning of life and the task to make a connection to civilization. The evening butterfly is well into her final life stage. She has gone through the experiences the morning butterfly has not; her connection with civilization has been previously established.

On the contrary, Woolf’s moth died because it was natural. The moth fell down and struggled to get back up. She stated, that the moth “flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment, and after

‘“One could not help watching him. One, was, indeed, conscious of a queer feeling of pity for him. The possibilities of pleasure seemed that morning so enormous and so various that to have only a moth’s part in life, and a day moth’s at that, appeared a hard fate, and his zest in enjoying his meager opportunities to the full, pathetic’” (Woolf 1). She continually pities the fact that the moth continues to make the most of his desperate and futile situation. No matter his frailty and impending doom, the moth continues to carelessly dance around the windowpane, either because he is unaware that he will soon die, or because he chooses not to care about his demise. However, Woolf begins to realize that the moth’s strength is failing him, and she comes to the cold conclusion that he is at death’s door. Not soon after that, the moth senses that his strength is failing him, but even upon knowing his inevitable death, the moth continues to fight. Woolf’s heart goes out to the insect. ‘“It was superb this last protest, and so frantic that he succeeded at last in righting himself. One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life (Woolf 2)’”. She resolves to root for the moth, and applaud his final protest against death. By the use of her writing style, Woolf has caused the audience to root for the moth’s final efforts along with her. By getting so emotionally

Butterflies are often used to reveal big ideas. As an example, Simon description of said wildlife changes throughout the novel following changes in his personal life. Butterflies go from “returning to their roots,”(58) to “deserting the open space.”(151). The opposing ways that butterflies are mentioned creates the idea that they symbolize Simon no longer conforming to the group’s idea of a submissive follower. Simon is instead having revelations of his own and choosing to follow a different path. Simon being comfortable in his own skin and aware that you know what’s best for yourself shows a maturity he previously lacked. In the same manner Jack provides an image of butterflies being too preoccupied in the clearing to stop dancing.(149). The authors word choice develops the idea of Jacks savagery because it is eerily similar to the phrase associated with characters killing. Yet again the butterflies represents Jack. It seems to reveal how Jack is to focused on the pleasure he gets from taking a life to feel any remorse and stop. Remorse is necessary to prove a person still has trace amounts of good in them. recognizing the

Doyle uses hummingbirds to show the importance of listening to the heart's desires. Hummingbirds are able to do unimaginable feats, but when they rest and do not eat, their hearts almost stop and they approach death. Doyle states that “...If they do not soon find that which is sweet their hearts grow cold, and they cease to be” (Doyle). In a literal sense, Doyle is discussing the hummingbird’s food source, nectar.

The Overall meaning of the poem, Dead Butterfly, is to let go of the past because life keeps going on.

The creator thought, “All these colors, they ought to be preserved. I’ll make something to gladden my heart, something for these children to look at and enjoy.” The last life lesson expressed in “Butterflies” is, do not take things without asking for permission. The creator wanted to preserve the perfect moment, so he took a little bit of everything good that was present at the moment and put it in a bag to give to the kids, one of which was the songs of the birds. The birds became upset because their songs made them unique and when the creator gave the songs to the butterflies, it made the birds lose their value.