The relationship between humanity and the rest of the natural world is a theme often explored in literature. Dillard, in her essay “Living Like Weasels,” and Hogan, in an entire collection of essays titled “Dwellings,” both explore this topic and offer their versions of what humans can learn from nature at large. Dillard believes that a simple weasel can teach people much by its sheer example of living a down-to-earth life free of unproductive doubts. Hogan second this belief and stresses that humanity should treat nature with respect and reverence rather than consumer interest. Yet while both authors agree that humans can learn from nature, they disagree on the means of doing so: Dillard explicitly rejects the scientific approach, but Hogan readily accepts it as long as it is respectful.
In her essay, Dillard uses the weasel as a symbol of living a simple, pure, and down-to-earth life governed by necessity rather than constant deliberations and choices – something humanity could benefit from. In her text, the weasel acts as an embodiment of such life: determined free of unnecessary doubt, simple as a wild animal’s needs. It is in this sense that Dillard suggests humanity could learn something from a weasel: not the intricacies of stalking and killing the prey, but the ability to only concentrate on the few essential things. According to her, a person should find something that really matters and, figuratively speaking, latch onto it as hard as the weasel does on its prey, and never let go. The benefits of such life are not as much in its mindless simplicity, although it is also a part of its appeal. Dillard also stresses that living like weasel possesses a dignity of a particular sort, which is the decency of living without bias or premeditated motive. These reflections pave the way for the essay’s central thought: humanity should spare less effort to distinguish itself from the rest of nature and devote more time to learning from it.
Hogan shares this conviction and displays it more than once in the course of her essays. She emphasizes the same idea of closeness to nature rather than separation from it through numerous examples, and just like Dillard, uses the imagery of nature to deliver her message. The images used may range from a wolf’s fur and a bird’s feather to something as simple and mundane as corn, but all serve the same idea of union with nature. The notion behind all essays that comprise the book is essentially the same as in Dillard’s text. According to Hogan, humanity’s focus should not be on what separates humans as a unique species from the rest of nature, but on what unites them with the natural world. This call for a respectful union with nature rather than separation from is a similarity between the two authors.
However, Dillard and Hogan disagree on the precise means of engaging in the reciprocal relationship with nature they both seek. Dillard empathically rejects the scientific approach – this is evident in her brash rejections of such concepts as “approach-avoidance conflict” as possible explanations of her encounter with the eponymous weasel. Rejecting it, she insists instead that her eye contact with the animal enabled a direct mind-to-mind connection, and, this interprets her reunion with nature – however brief – as a spiritual and even mystical experience. Dillard opines that a respectful relationship between nature and humanity requires something other than scientific analysis. According to her, a person should not explain nature but, rather, try to experience it directly, just like the author did in her encounter with a weasel.
Hogan, however, does not reject scientific analysis as a means of becoming closer to nature. Instead of only borrowing from her personal experience with nature, the author also uses scientific evidence to support her points. More than that, she explicitly points out that science is a viable and useful way of comprehending nature and learning from it as long as the scientist in question respects the phenomena he or she studies. Hogan finds an example of such a responsible researcher in Barbara McClintock – a botanist who studied maize genetics to learn what the corn had to say. Thus, while Dillard maintains that spiritual unification with the natural world is the only – or, at least, vastly preferable – way to become closer to it, Hogan opines that discarding science is premature at least. These varying approaches to scientific analysis as a way to respectfully learn from nature are a notable difference between the author’s convictions.
As one can see, “Living Like Weasels” by Dillard and “Dwellings” by Hogan explore similar themes from a similar angle, but are, nevertheless, not identical to each other. The authors agree that instead of focusing on what separates humanity from the rest of nature, people should pay attention to what can link them back to the natural world to learn something from it. However, Dillard explicitly rejects the scientific approach to nature while Hogan accepts it as long as it is respectable, and this disagreement constitutes a difference between the authors’ otherwise similar perspectives.