From Snake to Man

Evolution. This word has many implications and debates floating around it, but there is no way to deny that it means change. Such change is constantly seen in nature and the actions of it’s inhabitants. I have recently found the most curious example of this change in “When the Snake Became a Man”. This poem illustrates change and evolution of thought in the strangest way. Unlike the normal poem, told from one perspective with the human or the nature changing, this poem is told from the point of view from the animals as they “mature” and evolve into humans. All in all this is an extremely original and weird way of depicting the interactions between man and nature, with an additional message.

Each of the stanzas of this poem are about a different animal and what happens when they become man. All of the actions that these animals take part in are actions of a human, though a bit over exaggerated. The first is a snake. This snake becomes man and starts to eat uncontrollably. In order to continue eating the snake uses a surgeon to create a hole in him that will empty his stomach so that he can continue eating. These actions are clearly ones belonging to humans. If you don’t know humans are renowned for never having enough of anything, be it food, money, gasoline, or company, and using any and every means to reach these items.

When the elk becomes man in the second stanza a very different reality is described. The elk grows his antlers so he used a supplement to force them to grow to a length that he needs help to hold them. In a completely humane way the elk makes a crane that will not only hold up his antlers but also take pictures and sort his socks. These two additional tasks are a comment on how humans always invent machines to do enough work that they don’t have to.

By the third stanza the author uses the growth of the whale as yet another cite of human growth. As the whale becomes man he bares in mind that he kills to eat, but writes it off as his nature and decides to replace the lives he takes with a song. Like with countries that send apologies to others that they have bombed, the whale struggles to replace the lives it takes with something as good and valuable. Alas, human flaws.

The last stanza, as usual, is the most interesting. In this stanza we get the main point of the poem. By the end everything has turned to man except for man himself. While living with dog, who is already man, the man changes. The dog of course notices this with disappointment and leaves. Before the dog leaves he comments that with man changing he will change the world around him, starting with throwing away the television. I view this growth of man as what the author hopes would happen. So far everything has been out of it’s normal position, dogs don’t care about television and elk don’t have growth supplements, not to mention they don’t have socks. The author wishes that man will wake up, truly become man, and change it all, like any of the animals would do if they could.