The Death of the Moth
by Janie Lee
This piece of writing helped me to imagine all the movements of a moth. Throughout this essay, the specific movement of the moth felt so significant. I couldn’t help but notice how ironic it seemed, considering the fact that a moth was rather a small and insignificant insect. The first paragraph brought out the beauty in a moth by the author’s words of “hay-colored wings.” To a human, a moth doesn’t seem beautiful but the essence of these words seemed to show the beauty in things we often overlook. I felt very engaged in the essay. Although the moth’s movements seemed to be normal, Woolf becomes descriptive to almost mesmerize and captivate the reader. Virginia Woolf finishes the essay with the moth’s death. The reader cannot help but sympathize and feel sorry for the moth. “One’s sympathies, of course, were all on the side of life.” The reader reads this, anticipating for a glimmer of hope in the moth’s life but is left with nothing to hope on as Woolf ends with the moth’s death. The author wrote the essay, such that the moth’s death would leave an impact on the reader. At first, the story starts with a calm and peaceful tone but then grows in tension until the story’s climactic point. Even though the reader’s sadness dwells on the moth’s death, Virginia Woolf displays the impact death has. Something as small as a moth died leaves a big impact on the readers. It shows that even humans cannot fight death and shows that life is fragile and quick. Both insects and humans cannot overcome and conquer death. The reader ponders their own life and compares it with the insect’s life. Virginia Woolf, through the story of “The Death of the Moth”, helps us to understand the reality of death and that no one can escape it.