The Death of the Moth
1.
The “Death of the Moth”, makes comparisons
about the life and struggles of a delicate insignificant moth to the similar
struggles faced by the human life. She utilizes rhetorical devices such as
tone, fragmentation within the narration, and metaphors to convey this message
and invoke the feeling to pity in her reader. Woolf’s choice to use a narration
style for this effective as it makes it more personal. The appeal to pathos is
strong and maintained throughout the piece as the reader can almost sit in the
speaker’s place and visualize the moth’s activities for themselves, which work
in correspondence with the in creating a feeling of pity. As the tone shifts
throughout the piece, Woolf’s metaphors and stylic choices strengthen and drive
home the idea that death is the one fight that cannot be won.
2.
She depicts her indifference through such
intense phrases as “I laid the pencil down”, “The horses stood still”, and “The
struggle was over”. These latter examples link in with the narration’s effect
of the world’s indifference and simple acceptance of the individual’s personal
battles. “We are all helpless against a power of such magnitude”. This implies
that death is inevitable.
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