I guess I've always looked at snakes at these nasty, evil creatures. They're always just slithering around looking for something to kill. After reading D.H. Lawrences' Snake I learned my thoughts couldn't be further from the truth. The snake in this poem is just looking for a drink of water and is doing so in the most royal and majestic way possible and how our narrator has nothing but respect for this creature at first saying: “Was it humility, to feel so honoured? I felt so honoured.”(line 33-34) The narrator really appreciates that this snake is drinking from his trough and show him respect by not killing him or scaring him away in the beginning. He even gets angry at himself for thinking the way we all would, for thinking about killing this snake.
In most of our minds we are wired to see snakes as evil creature. Whether it’s from bible stories or just from seeing a role model such as your grandfather kill one while you are young to protect you, we view these creatures as worthless killers. Now even our narrator, who seems to really appreciate the beauty of this creature, is having second thoughts, “And voices in me said, If you were a man you would take a stick and break him now, finish him off.”(lines 25-26)
We act on instinct and even as strong as our willpower can be instinct takes over and there is almost nothing you can do about it. Our narrator seems to have over powered his instinct to kill this snake. He watches the snake drink and then watches as he starts to leave. He starts to enter a small hole and with just the end of his tail showing our narrator acts. “I picked up a clumsy log and threw it at the water-trough with a clatter.”(lines 55-57) Instinct took over and he regrettably threw the log in the direction because deep down his willpower was telling him not to hurt this creature.
Despite everything we sometimes disappoint ourselves. It may be accidental or it may be something we could’ve prevented. Our narrator is extremely disappointed in himself, “And immediately I regretted it. I thought how paltry, how vulgar, what a mean act! I despised myself and the voices of my accursed human education.”(lines63-65) It may not seem like a monumental event, scaring away a snake, but to our narrator, he respected that snake, he felt a certain amount of respect from the snake just gracing him with his presence. He feels that he may even have bad luck now from his actions, comparing them to killing an albatross. He missed a golden opportunity to respect this beautiful creature and possibly enjoy him in the future. It is a sad ending to a possible great friendship between this man and a snake.
First off, I hate snakes! Every time I see a snake during the summer time, I instantly run from it. This poem, though, shows the snake as a magical creature in a way. The narrator knew he needed to kill it, but he seemed to make a connection with it - Weird huh?
ReplyDeleteI really like that you highlighted the fact that for most of us, chasing away/killing a snake would not be a monumental event. However, because the narrator truly developed a kinship with this snake, it was a big deal for him. He missed out on an opportunity and will probably regret it long into his future. It's funny how he cared so much about something most of us would not give a second thought to. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI was also brought up to hate snakes. It was either run over it with a lawn mower, or kill it with a pitch fork. Everyone in my family has always hated snakes. I did too until I started volunteering at a zoo and had to interact with them. That experience changed my opinion about snakes forever. I honestly feel the way about them has the author did in the beginning of the poem.
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