Woolf's Symbolism Of The Moth's Short Life example essay topic

'The Death of the Moth " by Virginia Woolf Death is a difficult subject for anyone to speak of, although it is a part of everyday life. In Virginia Woolf's "The Death of the Moth", she writes about a moth flying about a windowpane, its world constrained by the boundaries of the wood holding the glass. The moth flew, first from one side, to the other, and then back as the rest of life continued ignorant of its movements. At first indifferent, Woolf was eventually moved to pity the moth. This story shows that life is as strange and familiar as death to us all. I believe this story was well written and will critique the symbolism, characters, and the setting.

Woolf uses symbolism in her essay when she speaks of the moth and its journey towards death. Eventually the moth settles on the windowsill and Woolf forgets it until she notices it trying to move again, but this time its movements are slow and awkward. It attempts to fly but fails, and falls back down to the sill, landing on its back, tiny feet clawing at the air as it tries to right itself. Woolf reaches out to help when she realizes that it is dying stating "the helplessness of his attitude roused me. It flashed upon me that he was in difficulties; he could no longer raise himself; his legs struggled vainly.

But, as I stretched out a pencil, meaning to help him to right himself, it came over me that the failure and awkwardness were the approach of death" and she was reluctant to interfere with this natural process (1178). Somehow, in the brightness of the day, the power of death was seeking this moth, and there was no way to stop it. This symbolism Woolf applies to everyday human life, making us understand that death will all happen to us one day, when it is our time. There is no escaping death when it comes for us.

The character of the moth and the way that Woolf's story unfolds makes you, as a reader, feel as if you are there actually watching the moth die. Her descriptions of the moth's flight and the struggle against death as he lived his life that day involves you in the mourning of someone or something you love dying. You feel every movement that Woolf saw in the moth's life that day by reading this essay. As Woolf describes how the moth "flew vigorously to one corner of his compartment, and after waiting there a second, flew across to the other", you can feel the moth's movements (1178). In Woolf's essay, the battle between life and death is somehow seen as both pathetic and noble. Pathetic because death will always win regardless the desire for life; but noble in how one faces death - on our back, defeated, or on our feet, and in dignity.

Woolf states "one could only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom which could, had it chosen, have submerged an entire city, not merely a city, but masses of human beings; nothing, I knew, had any chance against death" and shows the moth's courageous journey into death (1179). "As I looked at the dead moth, this minute wayside triumph of so great a force over so mean an antagonist filled me with wonder", says Woolf (1179). This makes us realize there is no effort grand enough when death comes for us. We can only choose how we view death. Woolf's essay, "The Death of the Moth" told a descriptive story about a day in the life of a moth.

Woolf uses this essay to express her views on life and death and leads us to believe that once death comes for her, it is stronger than the life she has lead. I believe she was expressing her views on death and how she reacts to the death of people in her life. Death is a part of life in which we have no control over. It influences our lives on a daily basis and we, as humans are powerless against it. Woolf's symbolism of the moth's short life makes me realize as humans, we have to live life to it's fullest and achieve all we can in the short amount of time that we have on this earth.

Bibliography

Woolf, Virginia. "The Death of the Moth". The Norton Reader: An Anthology of Nonfiction. Ed. Linda J. Peterson and John C. Brereton. 11th ed. New York: W.W. Norton Company, 2004.1178-1179.