John Steinbeck The Snake Analysis

In John Steinbeck’s “The Snake”, he used a scenic approach in order to manipulate the dynamic between science and fiction by juxtaposing the realities of a science lab with a non-existent woman, which leads the reader to question if Dr. Phillips is mentally stable, by creating characters that would showcase how dark our inner thoughts are. John Steinbeck includes this as a way to prompt secure emotions full of conviction and realization in the readers, to the extent of establishing sacred connections between what is real and what our mind convinces us to be real.

The setting fails to reach the common standards of a normal science lab. A normal science laboratory receives visitors who watches the processes and participates in the studies of

John Steinbeck created the woman in “The Snake” with alluding characteristics to the poisonous snake. Similar to the snake, this woman is dark, sneaky and vindictive. A comparison of the woman to the snake reveals that the woman herself is snakelike. Not only does her physical characteristics (tall, lean, dressed in black) match those of the snake, but also her actions matched those of a snake as well. As the woman walked away to leave the lab, Dr. Phillips described her walk as silent, because he could not hear her footsteps against the pavement. This suggests that the woman was slithering away in a snakelike manner. As the snake swayed over to the prey, the woman swayed as if she was the snake. While the snake ate its prey, Dr. Phillips thought, “If she 's opening her mouth, I 'll be sick. I 'll be afraid.” Then he proceeded to keep his eyes away from the woman and her disturbing actions. John Steinbeck creates characters like the woman, comparing a human with animal like characteristics. In the book “Literature and the Grotesque,” Brian Railback, an English professor, creates a section of the book to specifically analyze John Steinbeck’s use of the animalistic characters in his stories. Brian Railback analyzes the works of John Steinbeck from Steinbeck’s point of view. John Steinbeck was the friend of biologist, Ed Rickett. John Steinbeck often found himself using words like “species” rather than “mankind” and “humanity.” (Meyer 54) According to Brian Railback, John

During his time spent in the lab with his biologist friend (Ed Rickett), John Steinbeck experiences “The Snake” story. He remarked countless times that he did not understand everything that occurred in the lab that day, or that he did not understand why those string of events happened altogether. When reading the retelling of the mysterious woman invasion, it is apparent that all of the pieces are not completely together. There is a true use of manipulation for the unconscious mind. This manipulation causes irrationalities and mishaps. John Steinbeck does not give an exuberant amount of information about Dr. Phillips. Nonetheless, his dedication to the numerous trials that he is experimenting with and the anger and anxiousness from missing his timely mannered experiments, it is inferred that Dr. Phillips has a mental illness, despite the magnitude of the said