Student Question
How does Dillard's description of seeing differ from the beginning to the end of her essay?
Quick answer:
In the last paragraph of her essay, Dillard remarks that she's spent a lot of time thinking about seeing and has come to the conclusion that seeing is not a matter of merely looking, but also of being "open" to what one sees. She is able to arrive at this conclusion because she's spent time in darkness and has gone on long walks alone, forgetting about all other things. Dillard believes that it is through these experiences that one can truly appreciate and be thankful for sight.The moment of epiphany Dillard contemplates at the end of her essay, On Seeing, is comparable to the breakthrough or “a-ha” moment experienced by a creative individual after a period of intense searching or observation. For Dillard, this revelatory moment is akin to a spiritual or religious experience: unpredictable in its arrival and resistant to all efforts of human control, the event is like a gift bestowed directly from a higher power.
Although the essay’s conclusion is an extension of the gift metaphor (the anecdote about hiding pennies for strangers at the beginning of the essay), to arrive at her particular endpoint, Dillard contemplates the different ways in which one may experience sight beyond observation, in darkness or if one is blind, for example, and how these might expand one’s consciousness and spirit. Where the act of seeing is concerned, Dillard moves from the literal and figurative experiences of “looking” and “seeing,” respectively, to a moment of transcendence.
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