Pretty Gruesome

Dillard maintains through "Pilgrim at Tinker Creek" that although a pilgrimage may be difficult and there may be tragedies along the way, it is nonetheless an important part of life. For Dillard, it the painful and gruesome events which she witnesses that allow the beauty in nature to truly show. Dillard takes this further and become so intrigued with these seemingly gross aspects of nature, particularly of various insects. Witnessing these events intensifies her curiosity about the workings of the natural world, giving her more reason to continue on her journey. “The remarkable thing about the world of insects, however, is precisely that there is no veil cast over these horrors. These are mysteries performed in broad daylight before our very eyes; we can see every detail, and yet they are still mysteries” (Dillard 65).
Dillard often relates spirituality and pain quite directly. “The great glaciers are calving. Ice that sifted to earth as snow in the time of Christ shears from the pack with a roar and crumbles to water.” She is in awe that aspects of nature which have lasted through so many centuries are coming undone. She goes on further to discuss RNA which we have only discovered within the past two hundred years and our more recent ability to look further into the mechanics of nature (Dillard 71). Could it be that Dillard is expressing her disapproval of a more scientific approach to nature as oppose to spiritual?

Overall, I find that the themes of spirituality, pilgrimage, and cruelty and pain play off surprisingly well throughout Dillard’s work. There is something strangely charming about how Dillard can find something so gruesome to be so intriguing. I find myself more in admiration her outlook on nature as oppose to put off. Throughout the readings I find myself frequently asking “How would I react if I were to see that?” and appreciating the comparison between her views and my own.

Mary Bozzelli