A SNAKE IN THE GRASS
... sweet mouse clothing does the evil deed and is then attacked by a yet bigger villain. The second villain is in turn attacked by the largest and fastest villain in their world. If there is a moral to this story I would think it would be “Never turn your back after you beat up the little guy. There is always someone bigger and tougher than you just waiting for the opportunity to take you on.” I think that the story progressed in expected fashion without surprise or building expectation. This very typical progression caused the story to be somewhat boring to me as a reader. I found it difficult to stay mentally with the piece while reading it. As far as I can tell the author, Mr. Roberts, is telling the story in the third person format. As though the story teller is standing in the grass, peering down toward his feet, reporting on all that he sees, to some other, unseen subject nearby. The story is told in the present tense as it is actually occurring. This is not a memory being related long after the actual event occurred. Kathleen Czech Page 2 Mr. Roberts created five characters for inclusion into this short story. The original mouse that we found capturing and consuming the grasshopper who innocently stumbled onto the same rock seems to be the main character. The second and more unscathed mouse that came up onto the rock to play a game of “king of the hill” with the first mouse and then ran off to, I imagine, survive the day. The sneaky, evil, dark snake that slithered stealthily up to the rock, not to play, rather to attack the first mouse. And lastly the hawk who took advantage of the inattention of the snake thereby capturing and kidnapping the snake for later consuming. I suspect the author wants the reader to compare the animals and insects found in the story, to human kind. Perhaps the author wants the reader to think of the first mouse as the common man. The grasshopper could be portraying one of life’s little irritations that we all handle ever day. Ne...