Winnie Effendy 07911893
“Lenses” by Annie Dillard
In this story, the author talks about her life as a twelve year old kid, observing micro
sized “cells” and her adult observation of “whistling swans” by the pond. Her scope is the
relativity of size and time in the universe.
Throughout the essay, she keeps bringing up the cells, swan and pond which she
describes as, “a big pond, maybe ten acres; it holds a lot of sky”. Dillard emphasis the
size of each subject with her lenses and binoculars to give a clear comparison of the big
pond and sky. Neat the end of the essay, she starts by structuring with a small subject
and gradually increase the subject to the extent that she has “lost all sense of space”
Dillard concludes there is no limit in size in this universe.
In conclusion, I feel like what strikes me the most is when Dillard use of comparing
the “immortal” kid’s development to a “mortal” adult, shows how the kid’s view of the world
changed from curiosity to a clear understanding of “reality” and how Dillard’s use of
structure and diction to guide readers in understanding her point of the “relativity of size
in the universe.”