Literary Analysis Essay on Pilgrim at Tinker Creek

Introduction

To some extent, we can say that Annie Dillard did not consider herself a nature writer, but in her assay or chapter "Seeing" in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek where she expresses her understanding and development of nature, Dillard takes as to her where she builds and develop her observation skills through her journey in developing the observation skills she introduces as to what she calls "specialist" skills and what she terms as "artificial obvious" through the use of her personal experiences she explores on the idea of sight and how we see what is termed as the obvious in our world.

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"Seeing" which is the second chapter of the book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek bring as the new ways of seeing and how we think about the world we perceive, to understand more on how people see the world Dillard uses the effect of the dark and light to the human sight and how our brain process what we can see. Dillard uses different ways to explain the process of human sight, she uses the natural surroundings that she compares with the Tinker Creek that help her to explain the vision that most people do miss. She also uses the overall idea to help understand the process of sight, she brings as to the meaning of life and sight to human beings where she argues that all the things we observe define our lives and helps as to live fully and deeper and helping as avoid superficiality.

Dillard starts the essay by narrating her childhood character where she used to hide pennies in the sidewalk then draw an arrow that will lead the stranger to the pennies without her presences (111). she also discusses the bird's sight. "These appearances catch at my throat; they are the gifts, the bright coppers at the roots of trees" (112). Dillard compares the look of nature with the pennies she used to hide, she argues that nature is a gift even if it small that requires one to look it at a close range. According to Dillard happiness is all about what can and how they see it, "...I don't see what the specialist sees, and so I cut myself off, not only from the total picture but from the various forms of happiness" (112). It does not mean that when one observes at a close range then they are blocked from the joy that is according to Dillard more I required of as to see not only happen but we need to understand the world we stay.

Dillard talks of the "artificial obvious" and how we see is the main area of focus for Dillard, usually the artificial obvious is a challenge to see and our eyes only account for less than one percent of the weight of our head and that one can still be thin but have huge weight. Dillard narrates how she see what she expects. She spends the whole three minutes just to find where the bullfrog was but still, she could not find it even after friends shouting towards the frog direction she could not see it, she asked what color was she looking for and one shouts green but at long last when she picks the frog and compares it a green color than the two were much different and finds the color of the frog to be wet hickory bark (114). The main concept about the artificial obvious that Dillard is trying to bring out is that the artificial obvious is the opposite of the personal idea of an individual, generally, people have accepted ideas of how things may look like or how things will take place or maybe how things may act. According to Dillard if one can see outside the artificial obvious then they will discover more about their future, receive more rewards and have much enjoyment.

Dillard talks of the effects of light and darkness on the sight, there are many effects with the largest effects being "If we are blinded by darkness, we are also blinded by the light" (116). Then how does she explain this she brings in another explanation for from Peter Freuchen of the kayak sickness, too much of light is of harm just like too much of darkness is also of harm? Darkness is always scary because it comes with too much anxiety and imaginative images from unknown sources. Dillard tells as that "Everywhere darkness and the presence of the unseen appalls...Even the simple darkness of night whispers suggestions to the mind" (115). Human vision can be impaired by the darkness which is the opposite case to the light. Dillard uses these two phrases to emphasize on her idea "darkness whispering" and the "unseen appalling" and she agrees that darkness can whisper and the whispers turn to shout which comes with an imaginative image in the darkness because there is no sight by then, it is more appropriate that the darkness and the light should be balanced for them to have equal effects to human beings.

Dillard uses an explanation from Marius von Senden's book that is Space and Sight to explain how one can be able to see after the restoration of their sight from cataract surgery, she argues that after the restoration of the sight the patient will view the world as "color patches" after the restoration of the sight then the patient will not have any meaning of the color (120). Dillard uses her personal experiences of the inability to keep the illusion of flatness in her vision to conclude that once a person has had their sight then they cannot reverse their understanding of the shadow to reveal the meaning of space and sight (121). But the color patches indicate to the world how reality exits, according to Dillard, "For the newly sighted, vision is pure sensation unencumbered by meaning ..." (119). To understand space and distance through the use of light and shadow it is observing the world as it without doing any analysis so according to Dillard seeing the world as color patches mean seeing the reality of the world as false because the world is made up of complicated objects and measurable distances. According to Dillard reality is seeing the space as sight without any understanding of the idea because there is no outside influence on how we understand what we can observe but according to Dillard sight and reality are different and she argues that sight is just but a template of how we understand both distance and space.

Dillard suggests two forms of seeing how we see the world we stay the first phase of seeing Dillard suggest "When I see this way, I analyze and pry" (122). And the second phase she puts it this way "But there is another kind of seeing that involves a letting go. When I see this way I sway transfixed and emptied" (122). The difference between the two forms of seeing is that the first phase is much complicated, according to Dillard when one strains to see then it makes seeing more difficult and challenging as she mentions it in her approach of artificial obvious. When we are observing in our environment then we should not focus on the unexpected but open our minds to both the unexpected and unexpected. In the second phase of seeing Dillard uses the illustration of a muddy flowing river to explain it, she suggests it is a kind of seeing compared to interfering with the flow of a muddy river in its channel and the river has no benefit to you she compares trying to block the flow as a waste of time and efforts that can lead to total madness. Dillard argues that you should allow the muddy river to flow without any interference but just raise your sight and look at it acknowledge its appearance without any interest in it and not saying any word about the muddy river and going your way, this a form of seeing that Dillard describes (123). The second way of seeing according to Dillard is that you see and do not do any analysis of what you see, the muddy river in our mind is like an analytical side of all of as it interferes with our mind and interacts as from seeing truly, it is a form of seeing that captures and close the peace of the world offering some observation skills and perceiving reality as a harmonious act.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Dillard shows as that sight is mostly based on what we are accustomed to, sight is based on what we use to do in our daily lives and that is not enough it also depends on what we can learn and spend fewer efforts in or do not spend any effort in learning them. Seeing is a deep process that cannot be compared to gifts by the sidewalk, every person has limited time in this world and we should use the limited time to reap the advantages we experience now. One is only able to appreciate the sight when one can understand its advantages, for one to be a specialist in this world then one has to open up to the enjoyment in this world. Dillard talks of the free pennies and the artificial obvious in her illustrations to understand the idea of seeing, she compares the free pennies which are a gift as to sight after drawing an arrow that leads to the stranger to the hidden pennies. She talks of the obvious seeing as the type of seeing as the possible opposite of what we expect of how things look like, how things will happen and act, Dillard talks of the effects of light and darkness to our sight and the outside influence. She then finally talks of the blindness perception and the forms of seeing, she argues that after restoring the blindness from a patient but still they are not able to see accurately.

Works Cited

Dillard, Annie. "Seeing." English 1A Course Reader, edited by Nathan Wirth, Nathan's Mind, Inc. 2019., pp. 16-22.