1) I thought that the the theme of of Ascension at Moonlight was summed up in the last sentence of the piece. "[Where would you be] without all their kindness , and without all this luck?" the writer's tailor asks him. I think this exclamation reflects an important part of traveling. You can plan out your trip and go to famous locations but the most memorable moments will come from two things you cannot ensure-- luck and other people's kindness. For example, the narrator would ever have seen the wonderful sight of the turtles laying their eggs if not for being lucky enough to be in the company of kind people and also being lucky enough to be there at the proper time for then turtles.
2) Several extremely beautiful used of language stood out to me in this piece. The first was the imagery in the line, "As it rose, the soft and sugary sand took on an appearance just like snow-- the sea beyond it black, its waves crashing rhythmically on the shore, the rocks behind it black also, and in between them this postcard- sized field of the purest white powder, illuminated by an immense moon, and with a clear sky full of blizzard stars." I thought the repeated analogies to snow were beautiful and I also appreciated the analogy of a post-card which helped reinforce the theme of travel.
The second bit I really liked was when he described how the turtle laid her eggs: "Once it was ninety centimeters or so deep, she quietened herself and concentrated, until, with a strangely, unforgettably intimate sound of chelonian parturition, she expelled a clutch of thirty or forty eggs into the hole." I had to look up two of the words in this sentence, but I really enjoyed how the writer's use of language created a calm, wondrous, yet primal mood. For some reason, I just really enjoyed this sentence.
Overall, this was a very enjoyable piece!
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