Death of a Moth

In Virginia Woolf’s essay “Death of a Moth,” I started out thinking it was very strange and that I couldn’t comprehend her point of the writing. As I kept reading, I became interested as I noticed that she was not only showing that every part of life is important and ends in death, but I feel that she meant for this writing to reflect the ways she was feeling at this time, as if she were the moth. Every life has meaning, but Woolf used a moth of little significance to describe the actions of and watch its life go from energetic and lively, to struggling and slowly dying. It was stated that “Death of a Moth” was published soon after her suicide, and it brings to my attention that the way she explains the life of the moth in great detail, she must have been struggling with her own life and felt as if death were near. I think the “why” of this story was for Virginia Woolf to inform readers of her perspective on life in a view that most people would usually not pick up on. The negative feeling that is brought through this essay allows one to realize that all living things go through death whether it is important to us or not and there are struggles in every life. The writer looked from the life of the moth to the window a few times and it is obvious that she chose to watch a struggle between life and death rather than watch the workers at work and the other lively animals outside. It made me feel as though she was a depressed woman and could relate more to struggles than looking outside and admiring the scenery. Not everyone would notice a moth over horses or workers in a field. This essay proved to me that one can use any kind of situation or story to show feeling or get a point to readers about such an important part of life.

Devin Clarke