Commentary and Conclusions for Annie Dillard's "Total Eclipse" -- period 1

What was the purpose of the piece as a whole?

Part One:
Significant Ideas, Passages, Conclusions
*Purpose was to show memory of smaller details
*Jumps between ideas a lot -- they don't seem to connect with each other -- not much transition
*Stream of consciousness -- addressing issues as they occur to her without a specific format and with little transition or explanation
*Conversational tone and wording
*Comparisons seem dark and negative
*avalanche falling down a hole 
*
Part Two:
Significant Ideas, Passages, Conclusions
*Color imagery -- yellows and golds vs. "cold and metallic colors
*addresses the issues of life and death. Transition of light to dark is comparison of life and death
*descriptions of dead plants, people, landscape -- the removal of the soul
*Describes P22 reveals ideas about her relationship with Gary -- a big distance between them. An opportunity to reevaluate relationships with others. Eclipse as a wedding band, a worn ring.
*Sets herself up as innocent about what is going to be happening with the events. The natural event doesn't unfold like a man made one. Takes her by surprise and shocks
*Like death, this occurs without preamble -- no warning, sudden and shocking and alarming
*


Part Three:
Significant Ideas, Passages, Conclusions
*Main focus seems to be the significance of life and human perspective on life vs the reality of natural life -- the significance of life or events is up to the individual
*During eclipse: life isn't measurable -- P32,33 examples of distances and unfathomable hugeness of the universe compared with intimate details like remembering a person's face
*P30: Christmas card with religious images, continues imagery camera imagery -- lens cap
*Gives examples of how you can see things on paper or film and the experience is nothing like it
*The experience of it removes your ability to think rationally -- you can only react to what you see -- too much to process
*Mushroom cloud imagery. Huge event, but subjective not objective. Simile -- the end of the world connotation -- death. Destruction of the world " Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds"
*P31 the ring (sun) compared to the whole sky, a goose in a flock of geese, a dime at arms length
*
Part Four:
Significant Ideas, Passages, Conclusions
*Deals with reflection on reality after the experience 
*Uses the planet's layers as a metaphor for layers of consciousness -- comparison with the gold miners and how they go so deep -- and they look as pale as death when they come back 
*We are taught to only stay on the first layer of consciousness -- maybe we need to be more "deep"?
*Image of the lifesaver -- both literal and figurative. Looked ring-like