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JEST AND EARNEST - Annie Dillard (1945)

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Jest and Earnest 

Jest: a thing said or done for amusement

Earnest: resulting from or showing sincere and intense conviction

  • Writes about nature
  • Observes nature very carefully and explains the purpose of the universe and the position of human beings
  • Writes about an event when she was roaming during the summer
  • Saw many frogs, jumping in the water 
  • It changes its shape and shrinks like the airless ball
  • Water bug attacks the frog
  • She thinks about the purpose of God in making a giant water bug
  • She imagines we are like water bugs because we always strive for food, we try to survive by destroying other's existence
  • The frog also swallowed a fly, and a bug killed a frog. The frog made fly its food and similarly, the bug made the frog its food
  • The frog was treacherous to fly in the same way a bug is treacherous to a frog
  • The writer talks about beauty and cruelty which are created by God
  • She wants to talk about cruelty 
  • Human beings think that there may not be the existence of trod (walk), but she says that there is God spreading over the universe
  • God is in everybody's soul, everywhere in the universe
  • God is very near to us. He is in our emotions, his existence is felt in our soul
  • God hasn't left the universe rather he is supervising the whole universe differently
  • She talks about light and dark created by god
  • She requests all human beings to survive even in darkness
  • Every creature is created having a purpose. They may be created for fun or for seriousness. 
  • Beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder. Everything is beautiful in the eyes of the creator 

Jest and Earnest is an excerpt from the first chapter of Tinker Creek in Virginia in which Annie Dillard describes a shocking event: a frog being swallowed of its internal organ by a giant bug. This cruel event makes Dillard ask many questions about God, nature, beauty, terror, life, death, etc. 

Jest and Earnest is a complete contradiction. It is written as a narrative.  By projecting her emotions and insights into the piece, Dillard is able to bring the reader into her frame of mind and how she sees nature’s cruelty. The title itself is a juxtaposition, the word jest has to do with fun, and earnest is a sort of conservative seriousness. Dillard tries to convey her beliefs on creation and how even seemingly complete opposites have something in common. The imagery in her essay moves from a depiction of a cruel act to a description of beauty, and finally to a vision of both.

In the beginning, Dillard deals with frog and their invisible position. A frog jumps and splashes into the water. Such an event makes her amused. She ever observes the colour of frogs in water, grass, mud and so on. Suddenly, she saw a frog starting to shrink like an airless balloon. She knows that the frog is being sucked by a giant water bug. The writer even describes how animals eat their food. Some carnivorous animals eat their prey alive. Some of the animals grasp their prey in order not to let their prey run away, and they eat whole. Frogs catch their prey with sticky tongues.

All these animal activities force her to think about God and his creation. It is described in Koran, the holy book of Muslims that God has created heaven and earth in jest. Allah is also surprised thinking either God has created animals for jest or earnest. 

She further mentions the name of Pascal and Einstein. Pascal thinks that the essence of God is ever hidden so we cannot see him with our eyes. Einstein believes that God is subtle (difficult to perceive or understand) not malicious (harmful).

Einstein believes that God is not evil but helpful. She thinks that God has created every creature with some purpose. God is found everywhere. He hides in Nature and protects everything and everyone.

  

Summary by: Zenith Sharma (Lecturer, Siddhartha Multiple Campus, Butwal)


Extensive Summary:


  • Jest and Earnest by Annie Dillard is a reflective essay (in a narrative form) that explores the theme of humour and its role in human experience. The essay reflects on the writer's personal experiences with humour and the ways in which it has affected her life.
  • The writer talks about the natural world, its wonders, and the creator of the world. Throughout the essay, Dillard explores the idea that humour is a means of coping with the difficult and challenging aspects of life. She argues that humour helps us to see the world in a new light and to find joy in the midst of suffering and tragedy. At the same time, she also acknowledges that humour can be used as a form of cruelty and that it can sometimes be used to hide from the realities of life.
  • She describes her summer visit along the edge of the island to see what she could see in the water. Since she was interested in frogs, she wanted to scare frogs and have fun. Dillard was amazed to see the frogs jumping in the water and their invisible position.
  • In the meantime, she noticed a sudden change in the frog's body. The frog slowly crumpled (squeezed) and began to sink. The frog's skin emptied, shrank, and dropped like a deflating football (airless ball). As she observed the event carefully, she noticed an enormous giant brown bug sucking the frog’s internal organs.
  • The writer, then, talked about natural predators. She talked about carnivorous animals which eat their prey alive. These carnivorous animals attack other animals from the back, immobilise them and eat them whole. Frogs, on the other, catch their prey with their sticky tongue and eat them whole. Ants don't catch their prey but eat newly hatched featherless tiny birds in the nest byte by byte.
  • These animals' activities make her think about God and his creation. She brings the reference to the Koran, the holy book of Muslims, which describes that God had created earth and heaven in jest. However, even Allah is confused about whether God has created animals in jest or earnest.
  • The writer further refers to Pascal and Einstein. According to Pascal, the essence of God is omnipotent and omnipresent, but he is hidden and cannot be seen with our eyes. Similarly, Einstein too has talked about God's existence. He believes that God is subtle i. e. difficult to perceive but not venomous.
  • Dillard asserts that God has created every creature with specific purposes. She believes that God is found everywhere and opines that God has not left the universe; he has just taken on a different form.  So while cruelty may exist within nature, there is God still behind it.  He still plays a role in the functionality of the universe. It’s just not manifested clearly to humans.
  • Overall, Jest and Earnest is a powerful meditation on the nature of humour and its place in human experience. Through her reflections and observations, Dillard invites the reader to consider the ways in which humour shapes our lives, and to think more deeply about its role in our world. 
(Subodh Bhattarai 2023)
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