The audience that would fit each finger of the metaphorical glove in this book is the audience that enjoys reading a sentence or paragraph, and then reading it over and over again, first for clarity, then for understanding, and again and again and again for the many facets of symbolic representation that Dillard paints with a substantial amount of clarity. A commentator on Dillard’s writings described Dillard’s thinking as “acrobatic” and I am almost certain that the word [i.e., acrobatic] it would probably describe Dillard’s style of thinking better than anyone else. Take, for example, the following:
“But if you cultivate healthy poverty and simplicity, so that finding a penny will literally brighten your day, then since the world is planted in pennies, you have bought a lifetime of days with your poverty. It is that simple. what you see is what you get. “
So philosophical and so hopeful … at least in this paragraph! The ideal of making your own days cultivating “virtues” is likely to appeal to any reader who believes in the incredible power of the mind. (p. 17, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Nature lovers will also enjoy this book, as will philosophers whose minds do not take the single path of philosophy and are not opposed to philosophical gymnastics. Those who love nature and philosophy will enjoy Dillard’s ability to find connections between nature and the metaphysics of life; the theory that learning, knowledge and everything necessary is available in anything observable, even the particles of an atom, is evident throughout this work. Dillard jumps from the cataclysmic universe to single-celled rotifers in a pond near Dillard’s house:
“Donald E. Carr points out that the sensory impressions of single-celled animals are not edited for the brain:” This is philosophically interesting in a rather grim way, as it means that only the simplest animals perceive the universe as it is. ” p. 21, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Those readers who enjoy a conglomerate of writings built by the skillful network of an author constantly referencing the works of other distinguished authors are also likely to find Dillard’s work intriguing. Her [Dillard] You should reference at least a dozen authors or movements throughout the book:
“As a true transcendentalist, Miss Dillard understands that her task is to be fully alert.” (p. 284, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
For those hobbyists and drinkers of irony and paradox, this is the stuff that Miss Dillard’s mind and subsequent writing style are made of. Take, for example, your comment on our closest solar star:
“We really only have that light, one source for all power, and yet we must move away from it by universal decree.” (p. 25, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek).
Dillard’s humor, often bordering on the macabre, allows the reader, in a moment, to put life in proper perspective and to realize our common desire for power and understanding … for control and the ability to participate. On an Earth that seems falsely at times, subordinate to our will and knowledge:
“Do I take him outside and show Andromeda, and blow his little endoplasm?” (p. 26, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek).
Y …
“What is this?” she asked. That, he wanted to say by acknowledging the award he had, is a memento mori for people who read too much “(p. 92, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek).
Dillard’s chapter on “Seeing” is perhaps his greatest contribution to the true, albeit invisible, connections between the physical and the metaphysical. Take, for example, your comment about blind people experiencing sight for the first time (s):
“It oppresses them to realize that they have been visible to people all the time, perhaps in unattractive ways, without their knowledge or consent.” (p.30, Pilgrim in Tinker Creek)
Y ….
“Some learn to see, especially the young. But it changes their lives. A doctor comments on” the rapid and complete loss of that surprising and wonderful serenity that is characteristic only of those who have never seen “(P. 30, pilgrim in Tinker Creek)
Y …
“Why didn’t someone give paints and brushes to those newly sighted people from the beginning, when they still didn’t know what nothing was? Then maybe we could all see patches of color too, the world got rid of reason, Eden before for Adam to give names. ” (p. 32, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Dillard’s word game is also outstanding and will continually elicit chills and other physical effects from well-organized words:
“I couldn’t remove the peaches.” (p. 32, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Y …
“… barefoot and shod …” (p.35, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Reason and the reality or insanity in a belief in God … in organization … in goodness … are also implicit themes within Dillard’s work:
“If, as Heraclitus suggests, God, as an oracle, neither” declares or conceals, but manifests by signs, “then clearly he better be scrutinizing the signs.” (p. 65, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
Dillard’s personal anecdotes also add an original and personally revealing flavor to the book not to mention the fact that Dillard often refers to getting to know his readers:
“Self-awareness is the curse of the city and all that sophistication entails. It is the glimpse of oneself in a store window, the spontaneous awareness of the reactions on other people’s faces: the world of the novelist, not the from the poet. I’ve lived there. I remember what the city has to offer: human companionship, major league baseball, and a rumble of stimulation accelerated like a burst of strong drugs that leaves you exhausted. ” (p. 82, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)
The seemingly random facts, then linked to seemingly ethereal metaphors, are one of the most pleasant elements of Dillard’s style throughout this work:
“Before reversing the unit of the second, people used to time the span of short events in their pulses.” (p.94, Pilgrim in Tinker Creek)
Perhaps one of the general themes (hopefully THE general theme) of this work can be painted with this paragraph:
“I am a worn and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along fine. I am getting old, I have eaten and eaten my share too. instead I am wandering in awe over a splintered shipwreck that I have come to care for, whose gnawed trees breathe delicate air, whose bloodied and scarred creatures are my dearest companions, and whose beauty beats and glows not in their imperfections but overwhelmingly in a in spite of them “. (p. 245, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek)