On page seven of Annie Dillard’s Seeing, there is a section of text that, to me, stands out from the rest of the essay. Located in the second half of the second paragraph, Dillard describes how a young woman who was blind her whole life got an operation to improve her vision. While this may seem like a dream come true for this woman, she constantly shut her eyes to go back to her comfort zone she lived in her whole life. Throughout this essay Dillard uses beautiful metaphors along with nouns and verbs that propel her writing above and beyond the norm. However, in this section there are no metaphors, but rather simple, yet calculated, words to hone in on the young girl’s experience. More importantly, Dillard does not describe how the young girl feels but instead describes her actions. Using more verbs and less adjectives is a skill we discussed in class and is definitely relevant in this paragraph. As a reader, I was not focused on the woman’s feelings as much as her actions and imagining her every move as she shuts her eyes and walks up the stairs. For example, Dillard writes, “...his daughter carefully shuts her eyes….” The word carefully paints the most vivid picture to me. Lastly, this whole anecdote is only a couple of sentences but draws the reader in so well. Dillard has perfected not overwriting and I hope in future writing assignments I can take on that quality.
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