In the short story “Old Ben” by Jesse Stuart, Old Ben, the snake, was found lying across the clover field to a sweet-apple tree by a man. The man takes Old Ben to his new home. He puts Old Ben in the corn crib to keep mice away. As his new family got used to the snake, Old Ben thought it was a marvelous idea to go explore the land he lives on. He went into the horse’s feedbox, running into some trouble. Ben got out in one piece, but got himself into more trouble with the hogs.
Old Ben’s problems started when winter was rolling in, getting colder than Ben was used to. Ben had disappeared for months, but luckily came back. When he came back, Ben was lengthy and had a flabby appearance. Old Ben grew slower and slower, and soon mice grew scarce and he
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His family would have friends over and go get Old Ben and pet him. One day Old Ben failed to drink his milk. It was in the late September, so he wasn’t ready to find shelter for the winter.
After figuring out Ben was gone again, his family went on a search for him. They made trips to the barn to see if he had shown up, but no trace of him was there, except rough skin he had shed last spring. They walked to the lot and thought maybe Fred the horse, had gotten him, but they accused wrong. The wife had spotted his tracks in the sand off to where the hog pin was located. Pa said the hogs have most likely tore Ben up into pieces, the end of Old Ben’s great life.
Old Ben’s family was taught to never trust someone you have never met fully. In the same way, the hogs killed Old Ben and got the family thinking if it’s best to have a snake that can kill a lot of mice, but will get killed easily or having cats that can eat the mice.This story about Old Ben gave me a new perspective of snakes. I learned that society makes snakes and other creatures like spiders as being bad guys. This story of Old Ben showed me that not all snakes are horrendous and horrific