"Jest and Earnest" by Annie Dillard, Summary and Analysis.
Jest and Earnest
Summary
- Annie Dillard (1945)
“Jest and
Earnest” written by Annie Dillard is a narrative essay. In the essay, the
writer talks about the natural world, its wonders, and the creator of the
world.
She begins
the essay by describing her summer visit along the edge of the island to see
what she could see in the water. Since she was interested in frogs, she wished
to scare frogs and have fun. Dillard was amazed to see the frogs hopping in the
water and their invisible position.
The frogs'
invisible state and the way they splashed water amused the writer. As she moved
further along the edge of the grassy island, she found other frogs which were
jumping in and out of the water. At the end of the island, she noticed a small
green frog. The frog was half dipped into the water. The frog didn't change its
position even when the writer went closer to it. She started observing the frog
minutely from just four feet away. It was a tiny frog with wide and dull eyes.
In the
meantime, she noticed a sudden change in the frog's body. The frog slowly
crumpled and began to sag. The frog's skin emptied, shrank, and dropped like a
deflating football (airless ball). As she observed the event carefully, she
noticed an enormous giant brown bug sucking the frog’s internal organs.
The
writer, then, talked about natural predators. She talked about carnivorous
animals that eat their prey alive. These carnivorous animals attack other
animals from the back, immobilize them, and eat them whole. Frogs, on the other
hand, catch their prey with their sticky tongue and eat them whole. Ants don't
catch their prey but eat newly hatched fatherless birds in the nest tiny byte
by byte.
These
animals' activities make her think about God and his creation. She brings the
reference to the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, which describes that God had
created the earth and heaven in jest. However, even Allah is confused about
whether God has created animals in jest or earnest.
Dillard
mentions the names of Pascal and Einstein. According to Pascal, the essence of
God is found everywhere, but the matter is that he is hidden and cannot be seen
with the eyes. Similarly, Einstein has talked about God's existence. He
believes that God is subtle, i. e. difficult to perceive but not malicious
(harmful).
Dillard
thinks that God has created every creature with some purpose. She believes that
God is found everywhere. She opines that God has not left the universe; he has
just taken on a different form. So, while cruelty may exist within
nature, there is still God behind it. He still plays a role in the
functionality of the universe. It’s just not manifested clearly to humans.
The
writer’s concern is to describe the belief that God is omniscient. She also
wants to show that even in times of doubt and suffering, God is always there.
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