preview

Analysis Of In The Jungle By Annie Dillard

Decent Essays

Author and poet Annie Dillard uses symbolism and hidden comparisons to a vast extent in her essay “In the Jungle.” Dillard refuses to confine her message to outright speech, but instead leaves the reader to draw their own conclusion. Her message is that the geographical separation of societies has no impact on the shared traits and forms of life that exist. Dillard’s purpose is to portray her experiences in the Ecuadorian jungle. She adopts a positive tone towards environmentalism and nature, rather than condemning modern industrial progress, and promotes the beauty of the simple civilization that she visits in Ecuador.

Dillard opens her scene in the jungle, living in a village called Pompeya, and describes it as “any out-of-the-way place” (Dillard 53). Her reliance upon imagery throughout the story originates here, establishing a calm and quiet setting. As “green fireflies spattered lights across the air and illuminated for seconds,” (54) “the brown Napo River was rising,” (54) and all the while, her small group watched “a hand-sized tarantula seize moths that came to the lone bulb on the generator shed” (53). This establishment of setting helps prove that, despite different bugs being thousands of miles from each other, they both act similarly to each other.

Having satisfied that the world of bugs interconnects, Dillard undertakes the more difficult task of proving how two opposite societies, one consisting of modern industrialism, and the other of ancient rituals, are

Get Access