“Laboeuf watched him and grinned. He said, ‘That is a piece of foolishness. All snakes are asleep this time of year.’
‘They have been known to wake up,’ said Rooster(121)”.
-In this quote, Portis foreshadows Mattie’s future encounter with snakes in the hole that she falls into. In the novel, poisonous snakes are Mattie’s one real fear, which makes perfect sense, seeing as they are very harmful. Portis makes a point to illustrate Mattie’s practicality, and her fear of poisonous snakes is another way he shows her character to the reader.
Might this be more than a literal issue with snakes?
ReplyDelete-In this quote, Portis foreshadows Mattie’s future encounter with snakes in the hole that she falls into. Poisonous snakes could be symbolism for all of the bad luck on the adventure they all take together. In the novel, poisonous snakes are Mattie’s one real fear, which makes perfect sense, seeing as they are very harmful. Portis makes a point to illustrate Mattie’s practicality, and her fear of poisonous snakes is another way he shows her character to the reader. In Greek mythology, serpents represent duel expression of good and evil. Good versus evil is a theme in the book and Portis demonstrates that theme here using snakes.
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