Structure

The essay is structured as a reflective piece that moves mostly in a linear fashion. The author starts by speaking in a matter-of-fact tone about the nature of moths, comparing day-time moths to night-time moths and butterflies. She uses these pseudo-scientific assertions to introduce "the present specimen," or the moth she observes on her windowpane (1). Immediately, however, she turns her attention to the outdoors and provides an elaborate description of the farmland – the ploughs working the field and the crows soaring in and out of the trees. When she returns to the moth, she notes that this same energy observed outside is, surprisingly, present within the moth as well. From there, the author describes what it is like watching the moth traverse the windowpane and, eventually, watching the moth die.

The author structures the essay so that she is consistently moving back and forth between outside and...