Caught In The Widow's Web

Gordon Grice struggles with the idea of evil and why it needs to exist in our world. He tries to understand this perplexed idea by using a black widow in his piece “Caught in the Widow’s Web”. Grice is bewildered and confused about why there is such evil in a benevolent world. The black widow has fatal venom that is more toxic than it needs to be, leaving humans absolutely terrified of the creature. The spider is seen as evil because of its venom that is nonessential. Most animals that are venomous or have traits that make them feared have a reason for those attributes. Grice’s overall message is that the black widow stands for the immense evil and darkness in the world that has no reason or cause for its existence. Gordon Grice used description and classification to write “Caught in the Widow’s Web”. Grice described a black widow and where he could always find one. Making sure the reader knew how to distinguish a black widow from any other spider, Grice said they “have the ugliest webs… messy looking tangles...littered with leaves”(para. 2). Throughout the story Grice classifies black widows as purely evil. He points out that “widows [are] actively malevolent… they wait in dark places to ambush us”(para. 8) just like evil in the world. Classification helped Grice elaborate on black widows symbolizing evil by classifying them as malevolent.

Grice uses imagery by describing smells, shapes and situations to allow the reader to envision his overall purpose. In Grice’s essay, he describes a black widow biting a victim. He visualizes when the black widow bites something, it “inject[s] substances that liquify the organs”(para. 3), leaving other animals terrified of the widow and it’s overly toxic venom. Grice uses symbolism to symbolize the spider as vicious and deadly. Need quote here. He uses literary devices to explain his tone and feelings toward the black