Annie herself
Dillard writes in the essays about her own life and the stories she remembers. Sometimes these essays involve family and friends, but sometimes they are essays about her point of view. She reflects on the major arenas of conflict in life, like man against nature (Like "Living Like Weasels," "In the Jungle," and "The Deer at Providencia") and she talks openly about God, about marriage, about society and urbanization, and about the beauty of the earth.
God
Sometimes imagined as the lightning and thunder, sometimes disguised as Santa Claus, this author openly admits that God has been a character in her life. She reflects on the true "meaning" of nature and the animals with their habits and cycles, and she eventually just mentions God by name in the essays, turning her criticism to the Bible, to religion, and to her parenthood.
Animals as characters
Sometimes Dillard talks about animals with anthropomorphic language, turning them into characters and analyzing their behavior for its emotional quality. She analyzes fear in the life of a deer who has been captured in a trap. Dillard's use of animals as characters also means that she views her own self as an animal in kind.
