Throughout "Living like Weasels", Annie Dillard uses visual imagery and anecdotes to show the difference between the life of human beings and that of weasels, and to express her desire to live like weasels.
After Dillard vividly describes Hollins Pond where she encountered a weasel, readers can have a sense of weasels" utter wildness and humans" arguable civilization. Hollins Pond is a suburban. Divided by "two low barbed-wire fences", on one side is "a 55mph highway" which stands for the bustle and hustle of humans" civilization, but on the other side we call wildness, it is "an enormous shaggy wild rose bush" beneath which weasels walk. On the wild side, steers will come in winter; and water lilies will blossom in summer. The scene of Hollins Pond will change according to seasons, and water lilies can be the floor for black birds and the ceiling for fish. All those things don't comply with anyone except for their nature, but they are living and flexible. In contrast, "a five-minute walk" from Hollins Pond, there are "rows of houses". Those houses have predetermined layouts, and the only function is for humans" living. Compare to Hollins Pond, humans" so called civilization is dead and rigid. Consequently, the different living environment causes the different life between humans and weasels.
Then, Dillard uses anecdotes to show how differently humans and weasels live. From the story of eagle, we can see that "weasels live in necessity". When the eagle attacked the weasel, the weasel fought back by necessity. He held on the eagle's neck until death because his instinct tells that he must do this unhesitatingly, in turn, the eagle was scarred forever. Otherwise, humans live in choice, and will analyze the pros and cons. We choose the way to compromise the expectation from other people. For example, we will set an alarm clock to get up in the morning, because we have to work to pay off the mortgage.
