« Morphology: The Words of Language | Main | Seeing-First Draft »
October 01, 2005
First Draft for Seeing
In Annie Dillard’s “Seeing,” she writes “What you see if what you get.” Although I’ve heard this saying many times before, and it can be considered a universally known proverb, Dillard brings the meaning to life in this essay. However, this meaning is not evident by just one quick read, but rather it is semantic and you need to interpret it and allow it to make sense in your own life.
Dillard tries to explain this quote by using her childhood as a prime example. She writes about her joy of placing pennies in a Sycamore tree root or in a hole in the ground, hoping that someone would share her joy when finding it. “But-and this is the point- who gets excited by a mere penny?” (Dillard 95) This is true, who gets excited about the little, everyday things that happen in life? This is the point that Dillard is trying to make and explain.
These pennies, although they seem to be worthless, can actually be the make-it or break-it point for a person. Whether it is a homeless person scrounging for anything he or she can find, a wealthy person who has a hobby of collecting coins and hoping to find one that is worth some money, or an everyday, average person that is glancing at the ground and sees a penny on “heads” and is excited because he or she feels like they will have good luck for the rest of the day. These pennies are what you see, a copper colored circle with the face of Abraham Lincoln, some covered in dirt and some shiny and new. However, what you get is not just based on its visual syntax but what it symbolizes and represents for you and what you make of it.
This message that Dillard makes is extremely important. It doesn’t apply to just herself or to only one person, but rather to everyone. You can’t open your eyes wide to just the broad picture and expect to get a full sense of life. It’s the small details that should be the focus point and the little things are what give life meaning. This message means one thing for me but can mean something totally different for another person. It is based on your views and culture. You can go through life not taking the time to notice what is around you, but then again “What you see is what you get.”
Posted by lcisnelson at October 1, 2005 03:22 PM
Comments
I enjoyed what you wrote very much! I especially liked the connections you made about the penny part of Dillard's Seeing; you brought up points I never thought of, but when I read them, they totally made sense! Your overall point of Dillard's message is well expressed, too. Nice work!
-Allie (:
Posted by: Allie at October 1, 2005 11:21 PM