Living Like Weasels, Shooting An Elephant, And Virginia Woolf

The human is the most complex living being on the face of this earth, yet human roots are sometimes forgotten. Through Charles Darwin’s theory of evolution, it is clear that animals are the brothers and sisters of the human race. In turn, human habits resemble those of all the living beings which creates unity between all walks of life, determining the same fate for all. A similar concept relates the three works: Living Like Weasels, Shooting an Elephant, and The Death of a Moth by Annie Dillard, George Orwell, and Virginia Woolf respectively. The authors explore the nature of such creatures in order to achieve a better understanding of their motives, all the while gaining insight on the cycle of life. Both Living Like Weasels by†¦show more content†¦Woolf paints a similar picture as the moth’s â€Å"legs agitated themselves once more...the enemy against which he struggled†¦was [somehow] opposed to the...moth...It was useless to do anything†¦One coul d only watch the extraordinary efforts made by those tiny legs against an oncoming doom,† being death (Woolf 195). This story parallels that of Orwell’s and explores the moments before the unavoidable force of death sweeps one away. The essays show that it is â€Å"useless† for anyone to do anything in this â€Å"powerless† state because the time has come. All one is left to do is to endure the pain as the senses are slowly removed and as he/she transitions onwards, displaying that change is also a part of the cycle of life, and one must develop patience and endurance to handle change. Moreover, Dillard’s and Woolf’s pieces investigates the process of death, the end of the cycle. Dillard believes that by â€Å"grasp[ing] your one necessity and not let[ting] it go, to dangle from it limp wherever it takes you. Then even death†¦cannot you part† (Dillard 66). In other words, one should seize their destiny till their body decomposes i n the ground,