This week we read a passage about the death of a moth. It was kind of hard to understand, but the meaning and purpose was very interesting and made me think. What really intrigued me was her purpose in creating this story. An observation of a simple moth lead Woolf to the conclusion that death creates value in life. It's when the moth stops zigzagging and Woolf notices the "rocks, the ploughmen, the horses" outside working when she compares the moth to human beings. She realizes that what humans and moths have in common are everyday activities that are pointless. The work that people fill their lives with are all lackluster of true value and meaning, for once they die, all their work will disappear. Had the workers outside of the window were to suddenly die, everything they had done would go to waste. The vegetation would continue to grow without regulation until the field no longer looks the same as it was. This suggests that all the work done my humans lack stability.
However, by the death of the moth, Woolf places value on life. While people live, they aren't able to grasp the concept of value. It is only until things are taken away that they will be truly valued. Yet people are always threatened by death, we just choose to ignore it. Everyone never considers that the moment they are in could be their last. Some people never experience their full potential or success, because they pushed it back too far.
