We began with a warm-up writing exercise: What is something you want to grasp and not let go of?
We the read excerpts from Annie Dillard’s essay “Living Like Weasels” from Teaching a Stone to Talk. You can read the whole essay here.
We discussed the essay in terms of the contrasts it sets up between domesticity and wildness and between choice and instinct. We also defined the literary term “extended metaphor” and discussed how Dillard extends the metaphor of the weasel in her essay.
Then it was time to try it ourselves with the following writing exercise:
Begin an essay as Dillard does, with facts or a story you’ve heard about an animal. Then connect this story/these facts to your own life and about how you think one could or should try to live. Call the piece “Living Like __________” (the animal).
