Teaching a Stone to Talk: Expeditions and Encounters

The island Dillard lives on is full of “cranks” like herself, including Larry, who lives on his own with a stone he attempts to teach how to speak. Others on the island joke about this matter, but almost everyone respects what Larry is attempting. Dillard disguises Larry’s identity, noting he may be a man or a woman and that the inanimate item might be something else, though she also admits she’s seen the stone herself. Larry keeps the stone on a shelf, covered by a piece of leather, except for when it receives lessons or during “the ritual or rituals which they perform together several times a day” (87). Dillard doesn’t think Larry expects the stone to carry on long conversations but is simply trying to teach it a single word. Some have joked that Larry must have carved the rock a mouth. Instead, Larry has plans to teach his infant son to carry on this task after Larry has died.

Dillard describes the innate silence of nature, writing, “Nature’s silence is its one remark, and every flake of world is a chip off that old mute and immutable block” (87). During the time of Moses, God used to regularly rage at the Israelites, and it “scared them witless” (89).