Life is a constant struggle against the looming threat of death. Humans do whatever possible to avoid death, but it is truly inevitable. Human’s unawareness of death pushed Virginia Woolf to write the essay ‘The Death of the Moth’ in order to convey the message of life’s frailty while also showing the inevitability of death. She reveals these through her unique style of writing, which applies the literary technique of empathy and tone.
Woolf’s unique writing style allows her to create emotions in the reader through her text. She manipulates this to create an emotional connection between the reader and the subject of the story, the moth. Even before examining the devastating life of the moth, Woolf starts to call the moth ‘he’, making it seem like the moth is a human. The reader can then connect with the moth on a sentimental level, rather than observing ‘him’ as another unimportant bug. This word choice creates an emotion in the reader that ultimately creates a bond between the reader and the moth, again making the reader feel as if the moth is a human. Also, Woolf begins to look at the moth very closely, not paying attention to the surroundings around ‘him’. “One could not help watching him. One was, indeed, conscious of a queer feeling pity for him”. Woolf enacts a pity feeling as she knows the bug will eventually die and strives to draw that emotion in the readers. This conclusion in Woolf’s essay presents the inevitability of death, while also pursuing the frailty of life by displaying the bug’s insignificant life.
Another technique that Woolf employs is her application of different tones. At first, the tone is light-hearted and hospitable. The words the author practice flow smoothly and convey happiness in life. Her manipulation of tone celebrates the carefree lifestyle of the moth and gives off a joyous energy. “Nevertheless, the present specimen, with his narrow hay-colored wings, fringed with a tassel of the same color, seemed to be content with life. It was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months”. The tone of the essay completely shifts as the idea of death is introduced. Woolf’s writing style begins to delve into a morbid tone, and a looming threat, death, is introduced. Instead of Woolf’s short, well-flowing sentences, she changes to sentences that are choppier. “When there was nobody to care or to know, this gigantic effort on the part of an insignificant little moth, against a power of such magnitude, to retain what nobody else valued or desired to keep, moved one strangely”. Woolf’s switch in flow and writing style allows for the creation of tone. Through the employment of different tones, Woolf is able to enhance her essay and make the reader feel the truth: life is frail and death is inevitable.
The inevitability of death and the frailty of life, are portrayed by Woolf’s treatment of empathy and tone. By using empathy and tone she is able to achieve her purpose, to display the frailty of life and inevitability of death, and how death will always prevail, no matter the struggle to avoid it.
#literary #literature #poetry #fiction #books #bookstagram #author #writers #writing #poet #writersofinstagram #novel #reading #booklover #writer #bibliophile #bookish #book #writersofig #manuscript #novelist #authoress #art #bookworm #playwright #essayist #literaturememes #paragrapher #booknerd #poems
