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Natalia Donlan

Mrs. Casady

IB HL English

2020 September 25

FTTB End of Unit Analysis Prompt #4

In Annie Dillard’s ​For the Time Being​, Dillard debates several topics regarding the

natural world, numbers, history and anecdotes in attempts to convey her thoughts on such topics

and how they correlate with the meaning of life. Throughout her novel, the author utilizes

paradoxes alongside multiple motifs in order to convey the importance of embracing the

impermanence of life.

Dillard is seen to have utilized paradox when discussing a disaster to introduce the way in

which life is cyclical and impermanent. The author begins to describe a naturally occurring

disaster of “a series of waves [that] drowned 138,000 people” (107). Although the influence of

nature and its destruction cannot be controlled, the author mentions this occurrence in efforts to

convey the water as negative. The word ‘waves’ being followed with ‘drowned’ automatically

creates a negative connotation to the ocean and its water, because despite being a naturally

occurring event, it will now be associated with death and ultimately portrayed as evil. Dillard

also categorized those which had passed in this event to constitute only a number in order to

demonstrate the way in which the usage of statistics dehumanizes a group of people. This

negative portrayal of the ocean and its harmful qualities is paralleled in the passage following,

where Dillard describes her love for the ocean’s waves by associating it with peaceful words
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such as “glossy” and “bubbles” (107). By creating a beautiful image of the ocean after having

previously described its dangerous qualities, Dillard creates a paradox which she uses to evaluate

the purpose of life through water. The motif of water is thus shown in this paradox, as she uses

the ocean to contrast life and death. By describing water with a calm connotation, she showcases

the way in which water symbolizes purity and a rebirth of life. This new birth of life through

water shows how it is a metaphorical representation of the beginning of life and its cyclical

nature, as humans ‘begin’ our circle of life. The parallel of this pure beginning to a negative

death through water shows how everything that begins must ultimately come to an end. Annie

Dillard includes this cycle in her novel in order to demonstrate the importance of embracing the

cycle of life and the way it is impermanent because it is inevitable. The author wants us to value

our lives in the present and be grateful for our time spent without fearing the unknown or

attempting to prevent it. She acknowledges that what ‘begins’ us will ultimately also ‘end’ us,

using water to show that life will begin and end in the same place. Dillard uses water to convey

this message because water is constantly in motion, symbolizing a continuous flow similar to the

never-ending cycle of life. This idea is similar to the motif of layers, as the cyclical nature of

human life will never end. One may live and die, yet we will always constitute history and time

will continue moving forward. Therefore, instead of being fearful of the unknown, she

encourages simply accepting our fates as doing so allows us to find tranquility and meaning in

our individual lives.

This idea of embracing life is further developed in the novel through paradoxes as Dillard

compares statistics to anecdotes. When describing a series of statistics within several different

topics, the author mentions that “two thousand of us a day commit suicide” (130). The usage of
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numbers is observed in this quote to showcase the dehumanizing characteristics of statistics

when evaluating mortality rates. By describing the deaths of thousands to only constitute a

number, this separates an individual from their identity and instead groups them with thousands

of unfortunate others. This excerpt from the reading is representative of the motif of dust, in that

individuals are simply like a particle, being insignificant in nature. Dillard debates our purpose in

life by portraying humans as dust, in that there is no significant purpose to life since we all

inevitably die unless one creates meaning for themselves. She notes this to showcase how once

we pass, we will consequently make up dust and dirt without importance. Although this appears

to be a pessimistic viewpoint, Dillard creates a paradox of optimism when later evaluating a brief

conversation which she had with a stranger, where she describes herself to have helped a woman

try to stand from her seat (135). Despite this being a brief interaction, the author included this

anecdote to show her perspective of the meaning and purpose of life. Opposed to simply finding

little significance in humans and only viewing ourselves as a number, she instead uses this

interaction with a stranger to show the complexity of humans. Dillard wants to demonstrate how

our purpose in life is found through connecting with others and being able to establish

relationships with beings who are just as complex in thought as ourselves. Once we are able to

do so, we collectively create our own meaning of life and are therefore significant for the time

being. When we are able to embrace our present lives in this manner with a newfound meaning,

we can connect with ourselves and nature and feel gratitude towards our lives instead of actively

search for a way to change our futures. This idea connects to the motif of burial, which argues

that humans must be willing to adapt and accept our lives in the present, or else we will ‘be

buried’ through time. If we are unable to accept our lives opposed to embracing them, we are
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subject to a life lived with regrets and greed towards the intangible. By creating this paradox of

human insignificance with significance, Dillard is therefore able to develop her position on the

meaning and simplicity of life’s purpose and encourage her audience to also find fulfilment in

our lives.

In conclusion, Annie Dillard utilizes paradox alongside the motifs of water, dust, layers,

and burial in order to emphasize the importance of embracing the inevitable aspects of life

opposed to living in fear of the unknown in order to achieve peace and find meaning in life.