Dillard's Use Of Instinct In Living Like Weasels

In “Living Like Weasels,” Dillard explores the concept of instinctual living after an encounter with a weasel in a nature park near her home. This encounter causes her to examine more closely her own life in relation to the natural world, and the role of instinct in each creature’s life. In Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels,” the author’s use of characterization conveys her feelings of disdain toward the generally apathetic nature of human life. Dillard emphasizes the weasel’s exacting instinct driven life in contrast to the lethargy of ordinary human existence. Before introducing the encounter with the weasel, the narrator relays the weasel’s brutal drive: “Obedient to instinct, he bites his prey at the neck either splitting the jugular vein or crunching the brain at the base of the skull, and he does not let go” (Dillard 148). The weasel’s ferocious compulsion shown here sticks with Dillard throughout the piece, weasels do not let go of their prey, going so far as to die holding onto a victim. This prudent compliance to the ebb and flow of nature strikes Dillard, as weasel’s are willing to die to live, while humans so often forget their natural purpose of life. …show more content…
When discussing her own attitude toward life, Dillard does not describe the same zeal and tenaciousness for being: “I would like to learn or remember, how to live. I come to Hollins pond not so much to learn to live as, frankly, to forget about it” (Dillard 150). Here, Dillard describes her usual indifference for life itself, trying to forget her instinctual habits in order to fully absorb her surroundings. This indifference for the way life should be lived according to nature directly contrasts the weasel’s strict adherence to nature. Dillard’s longing for the weasel’s way of life, of simply living how the universe intended, shows her contempt for the current human

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Dillard's Use Of Instinct In Living Like Weasels

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