Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

Dillard expresses her amazement at the existence of mangroves, which “can and do exist as floating islands, as trees upright and loose, alive and homeless in the water” (155). Mangroves can be separated from shorelines by strong winds or currents and float along rivers and oceans, continuing to grow and develop. Having adapted to exude salt, mangroves can thrive in sea water and can also make their own soil. The mangrove islands can expand, growing new trees and attracting other sea life, such as oysters, shrimp, and starfish to live in the roots. Dillard compares the aimless drifting of these mangrove islands to human existence on Earth: “I alternate between thinking of the planet as home—dear and familiar stone hearth and garden—and as a hard land of exile in which we are all sojourners” (156).

Dillard believes that humans feel at home on Earth but also feel disconnected from the earth and from its other creatures: “We don’t know where we belong, but in times of sorrow it doesn’t seem to be here, here with these silly pansies and witless mountains, here with sponges and hard-eyed birds” (157). Dillard also compares the planet to the mangrove islands, calling it “a sojourner in airless space, a wet ball flung across nowhere” (157). She notes that some scientists believe the solar system is shifting, adding to her feeling that we are aimlessly drifting through space. However, though the thought of being directionless might lead to “thoughts of despair” (158), Dillard finds beauty in the idea that, like mangrove islands, humanity grows and builds and collects new life and ideas on its journey: “We the people started small and have since accumulated a great and solacing muck of soil, of human culture. We are rooted in it; we are bearing it with us across nowhere” (158).