Response to Lenses-Annie Dillard

I want to take a look at the piece of Lenses by Annie Dillard.  Annie Dillard seems to be very good and clear when writing fiction essay/non fiction.  I want to take a couple of minutes to break down this piece and look at the subtle works that she puts into this piece. 

It starts with a flashback and then shoots to her middle school years.  It's more of a progressive flashback, and it creates the timeline of this piece which ends with her being a "mortal adult".  Which she references in the piece.  Mortal is figurative language, which is shown when watching the swans through the lenses.  She feels immortal though when she looks at the algae and other tiny microorganisms when she was little.  There is a relationship between the distance and intimacy factor of watching the animals when she is right next to them.

I feel that most importantly that the microscope is a metaphor for looking in and simultaneously a literal context of the swans watching.  Looking at something close, but far away. 

Also, i feel that she starts the story with four paragraphs about microscope to give us detail and allow us to feel the comparison to when she's an adult has much more value.  She shows us not tells us how it really was in that Pittsburg basement at a young age.

On page 106,

 "But oddly, this is a story about swans.  It is not even a story; it is a description of swans.  This description of swans includes the sky over a pond, a pair of binoculars, and a moral adult who had long since moved of the Pittsburgh basement."

This is my favorite passage in the piece.  The author for once, goes strait to the point for us non english lovers.  She clearly states what you should know by now and to make it less confusing.  She refers to how cruel she feels about her pastime as a child compared to now.  It also highlights a bigger message that life isn't like how it was when she was a child and you can just wash off a slide and start over in adult life.