Literature

In the texts The Snake by D.H Lawrence and Fish Story by Rick Bass several ideas and styles are apparent from the use of alliteration as in  Softly drank through his straight gums into  his slack body silently which gives the reader the hissing sound of a snake to  along a reddish gravelly rutted road on the way to nowhere which plants in the readers mind, such words as remote, rare and reclusive. However, though these alliterations help to flush out the story and themselves could be held up to the light of analysis they, themselves do not answer the question How do people in these stories react to creatures of nature In the following, I will show that the various reactions can be summed up in two words Fear and Awe. These two concepts run through out  both the poem and the short story as to play the most important themes in both.   

    Fear by anyones definition comes in many different shapes and guises. In the poem the snake the telling passage is the voice of my education said to me, he must be killed, for in Sicily the black, black snakes are innocent and the gold are venomous. In this passage, it is clear that the persons reaction to a creature of nature is fear, in the sense that we often hate what we fear and in a most extreme way would want to kill what we fear.  Later, in the poem, the idea of fear is revisited in the passage was it cowardice that I dared not kill him Was it perversity, that I longed to talk to him  Here we see, the persons reaction to the initial want of killing,  has turned in on itself to a fear of killing. It is with this, that fear is clearly shown to play a role in the poem the snake by D.H. Lawrence. 

    In the Fish Story, fear takes on a slightly different form. Fear in this story is more related to the loss of the fish, as opposed to a direct fear of the fish. In the line theyre just going to kill it he said, its mine, give it to me and Ill let it go, I swear I will, he said. Give it to me or Ill beat you up  Here there is a dual concept of fear fear of losing the fish, fear of disappointing his father, and fear of being beaten up. Shrotly after the above passage we see another example is the dialog between the boy and the other boys mother who says drunkenly thass a big fish, she said, yes maam I said quietly, I dreaded that she was going to ask for the fish back. My boy and my old man caught that fish, she said, youll see. Gonna have their pictures in the newspaper

The rest of the dialog continues in this vein, where the boy becomes increasingly fearful, that the mother is going to either ask for the fish back or just take it.  It is with these examples, that the concept of fear in association with The fish story and specifically fear of losing the fish is made apparent.

    Awe, though some would say closely akin to fear, I believe in these stories plays its own special thematic importance. In the poem the snake, awe takes the shape of  self-recrimination as in this passage 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  It is clear, that the person interacting with a creature of nature has put the creature above himself, or as the previous passage denotes, that he is below the creature. It is in this sense, that the things we are awed  by are somehow above us in station, above us in the sense that we feel inadequate. A slightly more direct passage for he seemed to me again like a king, like a king in exile, uncrowned in the underworld, now due to be crowned again In this passage we see the actual veneration of the snake to King status, which brings with it all the awe and respect that royalty implies. 

    In the fish story awe plays its thematic role in two ways the size of the fish and the want of the fish. In the line Throughout the afternoon, some of the adults who were showing up wandered over to examine the monstrosity. The monster size of the fish is made obvious. In addition to this through out the story, the very way it is written, holds the fish up to be something more than just a big fish. Several aspects of this are made apparent, the fact that two attempts were made to get the fish back and this gift from the belly of some beast from far below.  It is with these passages that make it clear awe does play a significant role in the fish story.     

    Awe and Fear play roles in both of the stories The Snake and The Fish Story. It is with the previous examples, that the case has been made, that these two concepts, though, surely not the only ones, are some of the main concepts in both of the stories. It is of note, that the richness of both stories as far as metaphor and style are concerned actually make it difficult to focus on two main themes. The interaction and reaction by the main characters to creatures of nature is as myriad as arguments posed However, it seems to have been made apparent that these two concepts play a vital role in answering the question. Unfortunately, because the richness of the stories, other concepts which are important, can not be delved into here, as they do not pertain directly to the question posed. It is a shame. As a concluding aside, I would like to briefly mention some ideas that do not directly pertain to the question. These ideas are Sexual metaphor, as apparent in snake and the fact that the boy spends the whole day hosing down the fish.  Granted, this idea does not directly relate to interaction, but rather, is a deeper reading of the stories, it pertains in the sense, that both stories have been given a fair amount of consideration and thought.