Humans often kill powerful animals for interacting with humans in a seemingly dangerous way. Is their murder justifiable? One can answer this question for themselves through the short story The Rattler, in which the author presents the contrasting views of a rational man that must kill an innocent snake The snake is not willing to die without a fight, and the man is not willing to let his duties go unfulfilled.
The author persuades the reader to empathize with the man and sympathize with the snake by giving the snake a personality, narrating the story from the man’s point of view, and creating a calm setting.
The snake’s intelligence, fair treatment of the man, and gruesome death evoke sympathy from the reader.
Upon seeing the man for the
…show more content…
Deciding the best course of action, in which there are many possible avenues, is stressful, and the man must make a decision that could lead to repercussions.
He then determines the benefits of committing the murder, and reaches the conclusion that his “duty, plainly, was to kill the snake.”
It would be much easier for him to simply walk away, but he decides to kill the snake instead.
In his eyes, he must execute his decision to protect his family and friends. He does not expressly want to kill the snake, and he is obviously remorseful. The author legitimizes the murder by using this guilt as an excuse.
After he eventually kills it, the man drops the snake “into the close green guardian-ship of the paper-bag bush.”
He essentially buries the snake because he feels guilty for killing an animal that hasn’t done anything wrong.
His actions were inevitably going to lead to repercussions, and he wants to remedy them, mentally at least, through this burial. The reader is empathetic towards the man because of his obvious remorse.
In conclusion, the author uses the emotions that the man feels as justification for his actions, leading readers to understand why he would kill the
…show more content…
He imagines the calmness prior to him destroying the snake, a part of nature that he considered beautiful.
The contrast between the setting and the gruesome events that took place are accentuated even more when the man compares the two after killing the snake. He imagines the beauty of the setting without his interference, and this creates empathy for having to deal with the situation in this way. In conclusion, the author uses the feelings generated by the setting to emphasize the contrast between them and the horrible murder
The author persuades the reader to sympathize with him and empathize with the snake by giving the snake a personality, narrating the story from his point of view, and creating a calm setting.
His decision to kill the snake may have been an exhausting ordeal, but the implications are everlasting. Therefore, when he makes this decision, the effect that it has on him and on the reader is profound. It is the responsibility of readers to understand both situations so that they can, by themselves, determine whether or not killing animals is justifiable under any circumstances
his neck was open to the spinal cord and the blood there was thick and shiny” (O’Brien 118). O’Brien uses the visual imagery to show his horrified response to his actions, as well as gain a response from the reader. O’Brien describes the dead man in so much detail that the readers are able to visualize him and feel the pain that O’Brien felt, which invokes an emotional response and helps prove the novel as very admirable. Finally, O’Brien utilizes conflict in
He goes on to say his “duty, plainly, was to kill the snake,” this being supported by his initial intentions to only kill an animal he was “obliged to kill.” In addition, using the point of view to provide intuition further instills the man’s justification of duty over personal values. When the man “reflected that there were children, dogs, horses at the ranch, as well as men and women lightly shod,” he feels a natural obligation to protect them, even if it went against his values. Towards the end, the man acknowledges if he had followed his moral value the outcome would’ve been significantly different, for both the man and the snake. Additionally, the man states he “did not cut off the rattles for a trophy,” expressing his guilt for killing the snake and depicting that the act of killing was more like a duty rather than a sport to him.
The demonstration of the narrator's imagination unconsciously leads his own thoughts to grow into a chaotic mess that ultimately ends in a death. By murdering, it’s his own way of finding peace. He is portrayed as being a sadist, sick man with an unnatural obsession for
He applies the logic of facts to the situation to make the reader agree with his viewpoint because it is hard to argue with facts. He also clarifies saying, “Most men will never turn violent. Most men will turn out fine. Most will learn to navigate the deep waters of their feelings without ever engaging in any form of destruction. Most will grow up to be kind.
The speaker is also justified in killing the snake because he/she was threatened after making the first attempt into killing the rattlesnake, but he only tried to kill the snake because it would be an inconvenience to anyone or any animal on the ranch. Some people may argue that if the speaker just kept themselves and didn’t bother the snake everything would be ok, but think about it this way say you were in the speaker's shoes and you decided to keep walking instead of trying to kill the snake. Later on that day you find out that an animal or person was harmed by the same rattlesnake that you could’ve chosen to kill earlier, but you didn’t. Wouldnt you feel guilty because you could’ve had the power of preventing the whole situation from happening if you decided to annihilate the rattlesnake earlier?
Individuals can make their own interpretation of the themes of the short story, but without the grotesque violence and psychopathic nature of the characters, a theme would never surface. The purpose of the violent scenes and nature of the story is to provide a theme for the audience that a good man is not just hard to find but impossible to find because everyone is an imperfect human by human
Sykes takes his evilness and spreads it throughout the house. Delia is a Christian woman who tries to keep all evil away from her. The snake that Zora Hurston talks about in “sweat” is like the snake in “The garden of Eden Satan”. The snake represents a fierce and scary creature.
However, he finally acknowledged his fault and wanted to judge himself as a criminal. Reader can know he has conflict with himself. He was a person who wanted to be a good man, but his fear stimulated his violence.
He was given more power than he wished for and if the final verdict on the man’s life was down to him, maybe he feels that it has changed him and that he regrets his
Although this large, frightening snake is ultimately feared, and also causes the death of a young character in the novel, its is a symbol of the spirit of the jungle. After Ruth May’s sudden and tragic death, it suggests in the novel that she becomes the trees of the vast jungle watching over everyone. In the final chapter of the story it says “I forgive you, Mother. I shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the hearts of the children to their fathers” (Kingsolver 543). This quotes gives us reason to believe that it is Ruth May that is narrating this final passage, and that she has become the trees and is now apart of
The journalist, Barbara Harrison, explains “Everyone in the village knows that snakes are agents of the evil eye and that the evil eye can search out anyone, righteous or depraved [...] So while Vittorio's mother, Cristina, survives the snakebite, it comes as no surprise to anyone, except her adoring and bewildered son, that her reputation does not” (Harrison). Once again, they explain how the superstitions of the evil eye lead to her fall in status. Due to this, she isolates herself from this town to avoid being seen in public.
Throughout the story, three major details of the narrator’s psyche are confirmed. First, we learned of the narrator’s deceitfulness. Every morning he lies to the old man with the least bit of guilt. The next continues to prove the madness as the narrator feels utter joy from the terror of another. Lastly, the narrator fabricates that the old man is simply not home to assure the officers.
The main character of William Shakespeare’s tragedy is actually a confused person that’s stuck between two choices. Some may argue that he feels guilty for his father’s death and so it’s his duty to avenge it. While others may disagree and conclude that he is just a maniac who is both violent and dangerous. Hamlet passes through the lane of hesitancy, where he hesitates to kill King Claudius. As a matter of fact, the main conflict of Hamlet is that he feels both the need to solve the crime and punish the responsible.
" Shooting an Elephant " written by George Orwell describes an ugly nature of imperialism. The story is about one European police officer who served in Moulmein, in lower Burma. While he was doing his job he faced many difficulties because of local people's anti- European attitude. This negative attitude overcomplicated his job. He had already realized that he wanted to get rid of his job as soon as possible.
His actions without thought end with him getting shot and him shooting and killing his brother. If he would have thought before he did things he would still have a brother. In “The Sniper”, O’Flaherty made the theme action without thought very evident by using description and