Annie Dillard: Exploring the Meaning of Sight
Annie Dillard is an American author and a poet. In his story, “Seeing,” she chronicles complex ideas concerning nature and sight. The author delves into the meaning of sight and draws an understating of the world and life. Seeing is the second chapter in her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. In the attempts to explicate the way humans view the world, she explains how light and darkness affect sight in various ways. In her story, Dillard reveals to the reader the concept of natural obvious and artificial obvious. She approaches the world as a wonderful place that is full of many gifts to make people happy. The underlying thesis of her essay is to emphasize the value of sight as well as explain the different perspectives of seeing. As such, the ideas in the story delineates the meaning of sight, natural and artificial obvious as well as life. She suggests that the things that people see and observe define their lives.
Analysis of Seeing
Many people will agree that seeing is one of the most essential abilities that humans have. While this is true, Dillard’s short story explicates more on the aspect of “Seeing.” According to her, seeing something is different from just looking at something. As such, the story forces the reader to examine carefully through different lenses of sight and to recognize that nature can be seen as a beautiful and a horrible place. At the start of the story, Dillard evaluates the different facets which can be seen in nature and points out that nature fails to provide consistent visions and emphasizes that it is “a now-you-see-it, now-you-don’t affair” (Dillard 14). Notably, the story entails numerous visual descriptions of things such as a penny and a blackbird that fly out for a tree. Dillard examines looking at things through imagination. She writes, “I close my eyes, and I see stars, deep stars giving way to deeper stars, deeper stars bowing to deepest stars at the crown of an infinite cone” (Dillard 16). Also, some people look at things and do not have a deeper understanding of it. The story embodies an impression that seeing is a beautiful thing as it gives spectacular imagery of nature. As the story progresses, the story unfolds to showcase that not everything that people see is pleasant.
Dillard’s Thesis: Natural and Artificial Obvious
Dillard’s thesis stipulates that individuals fail to notice the small things in life as they tend to go through life without realizing that life offers many gifts. As a result, people miss out on the exciting challenges and opportunities found in life. In fact, people succeed in seeing what Dillard terms to be “natural obvious” which refers to what they expect to see. Dillard clearly points out that “what you see is what you get” (Dillard 14). Humans fail to see “artificial obvious,” which is seeing what an individual does not expect to see. According to the story, “artificial obvious,” could lead to great happiness if people are determined to view things in a different way than what they see on the surface. Dillard goes ahead to support her thesis with the case of a frog. She states that she was unable to find a frog that was presumably in front of her because she was told the frog was green and yet it had the color similar to “wet hickory bark” (Dillard 15). This is “natural obvious” as she expected to see a green frog and failed to realize that it could be in a different color. The central idea is that life has great things to offer if people look closer at the smaller things you would otherwise miss, you get more happiness. In “artificial obvious,” people need to train the eye to see things that are not obvious to the eye. It is depressing to note that individuals are ever busy chasing big things to be happiness, and they do not have time to stop and notice the vast details of small things in nature.
Seeing as Verbalization
In the story, Dillard also mentions that seeing is verbalization. Seeing is an active experience where the person has to be aware of the surrounding. What one sees can change quickly and hence the ability to see reality is based on experience. Seeing is thus a journey. Dillard states that “Seeing is of course very much a matter of verbalization” (Dillard 19). According to Dillard’s story, seeing does not involve taking objects for what they are, but rather paying attention to each and every detail of an item and eventually analyze it thoroughly. The story emphasizes on being proactive with visualization. She says that “When I see this way I analyze and pry” (Dillard 19). Every detail should be captured until one has a vivid picture of the object and not just look at how it appears to the eye. Seeing can either be through using a camera or eyes. With a camera, the person is an active observer and can walk taking pictures of every detail. However, without the camera, one will stand idle and allow everything to pass without noticing critical details. Dillard argues that if somebody does not pay attention to what passes around, he or she will not notice. In other words, the author elucidates that paying attention to detail is crucial in an attempt to fully captivate what is present. Apparently, if people go through life and fail to take note of things and appreciate the beauty of the universe, they will truly miss out on many interesting things. Attention to detail is a form of verbalization, and it lies in the ability to observe keenly and have a different perspective.
The Effects of Light and Dark on Sight
Dillard’s story, “Seeing” is from her book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek and denotes to be a masterpiece in explaining the world of sight. She explains that when surgery is done to people who were born blind, and they become able to see, some will be excited with the idea while others will not love it. They will want to go back to darkness. She draws the question of seeing in order to understand and discover new things. According to Dillard, seeing something is through curiosity and discovery of details. Sight can be used to realize the beauty of the world and give an understanding of the things in the surrounding. “If we are blinded by darkness, we are also blinded by light. When too much light falls on everything, a special terror results” (Dillard 16). According to the author, darkness creates scary images as many people are afraid of what they are not able to see. She says that "The secret of seeing is, then, the pearl of a great price... But although the pearl may be found it may not be sought... Although it comes to those who wait for it, it is always, even to the most practiced and adept, a gift and a total surprise" (Dillard 20). The ideas on the effects of light and dark on sight are vastly enormous. Darkness is frightening and brings anxiety and imagination. Sight depends on what people are accustomed to seeing and the willingness to make a critical observation. The world is a combination of subjective and objective matters and what people see reflects how they view the world to be. Different people see different things from various perspectives. According to Dillard, what we expect influences what we see. It can be agreed that knowledge has a great influence on how we see and interpret things. When the author uses the term seeing, she means something that is beyond the obvious. If people choose to see things from a different perspective, they will be able to be happy and make the world a better place for everyone.
Conclusion
Dillard is concerned with exploring how people see and perceive the world. In the entire story, she explains the effects of sight and how it is processed in both the light and in the darkness. The author incorporates her natural surroundings, and through this, she is able to portray how seeing can be viewed from different perspectives. According to the story, keen observations can help people have a deeper understanding of things. The author uses many examples and imageries which help the reader to understand the underlining thesis of the story. The story is thus captivating to the reader and it is embedded with a lot of figurative language.
Works Cited
Dillard, Annie. “Seeing.” English 1A Course Read. Ed: Nathan Wirth. Novato, CA: Nathan’s Mind, Inc. 2018. Print.
