Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Essay 2, “An Expedition to the Pole,” describes an encounter with God as being risky and something to approach with great caution. How does this view align with religious teachings about God in the Christian/Jewish/Muslim tradition?

Dillard has a deep interest in and respect for wild animals and the way they live. What does Dillard find superior about wild animals in comparison to mankind?

In Essay 5, “The Deer at Providencia,” Dillard suggests that she cannot spend much time thinking about the suffering of a dying deer since it feeds so many villagers, and she implies that she worries more about the suffering of people like the burn victim whose story she read in the paper. Is Dillard being callous, or is it sometimes necessary to reserve our empathy? 

What is the silence of nature that Dillard describes in Essay 6, “Teaching a Stone to Talk”? Why does Dillard name her collection of essays after this individual essay?

Dillard describes her desire to be reincarnated as a palo santo tree in Essay 6, “Teaching a Stone to Talk.” Why might it be better to come back as a silent witness than as another, more active creature?

In some of her essays, like Essay 12, “Mirages,” Dillard describes events in a distorted, surreal way but insists that this is how things really happened. What interests Dillard about these unusual moments, and what do they help us understand about the world and how it operates?

In Essay 13, “Sojourner,” Dillard suggests that we are strangers on this planet. Does this suggestion ring true? Why or why not?

Dillard reconnects with her childhood self in Essay 14, “Aces of Eights,” and she describes some of the traits she left behind, like hating her sister, resenting piano lessons, and not wanting to sit around talking. What other aspects of childhood are left behind as people age into adulthood? Does that child self really die, as Dillard suggests, or simply transition into someone new?