Caught in the Widow's Web
Adriana Imposimato
Block A AP Lang
Analysis of Grice’s essay
September 14, 2012 The essay “Caught in the Widow’s Web” by Gordon Grice describes his experiences with spiders as well as some facts about spiders. With strong uses of adjectives and nouns he creates graphic images in our minds about the reality of Black Widow spiders. In “Caught in the Widow’s Web” Grice discusses the web of the spider by using adjectives such as: “ugliest, stiff, and smells”. He portrays the image of spiders’ webs being a foul object. Grice intricately uses adjectives to show the spider’s aggressiveness towards his victims. The Widows have an immense appetite, eating anything that lands in their sticky web. The Black Widow spiders have been seen “eating scarab beetles heavy as pecans” they have also been seen eating “arthropods of various sizes”. When an insect becomes entangled in the web the Black Widow injects a toxin that harms the organs, slows down the intestines of the prey, and continues to inject the same toxin three times to destroy the prey. The essay attributes the venom to fear, and venom creates an image of death in our minds. When a Black Widow spider attacks there is a danger inside the organism because the Black Widow’s poison can fatally wound or kill its prey. In paragraph 11 Grice converses about the symptoms that come with the bite of a Black Widow spider. “Sweats, vomiting, swelling, convulsions, and dozens of other symptoms”, are signs of the attack of a Black Widow spider. The bite has been described as “the worst pain you’ve ever felt”. This portrays the Black Widow as an hostile monster with incredibly poisonous venom. Presumably if one has been bitten, they would consult a doctor. This forms a picture of doctors and nurses rushing to find an antivenin before the victim completely succumb to the venom. Knowing how bad a bite is can affect how people view Black Widows. A significant childhood memory is a key motive for his
Block A AP Lang
Analysis of Grice’s essay
September 14, 2012 The essay “Caught in the Widow’s Web” by Gordon Grice describes his experiences with spiders as well as some facts about spiders. With strong uses of adjectives and nouns he creates graphic images in our minds about the reality of Black Widow spiders. In “Caught in the Widow’s Web” Grice discusses the web of the spider by using adjectives such as: “ugliest, stiff, and smells”. He portrays the image of spiders’ webs being a foul object. Grice intricately uses adjectives to show the spider’s aggressiveness towards his victims. The Widows have an immense appetite, eating anything that lands in their sticky web. The Black Widow spiders have been seen “eating scarab beetles heavy as pecans” they have also been seen eating “arthropods of various sizes”. When an insect becomes entangled in the web the Black Widow injects a toxin that harms the organs, slows down the intestines of the prey, and continues to inject the same toxin three times to destroy the prey. The essay attributes the venom to fear, and venom creates an image of death in our minds. When a Black Widow spider attacks there is a danger inside the organism because the Black Widow’s poison can fatally wound or kill its prey. In paragraph 11 Grice converses about the symptoms that come with the bite of a Black Widow spider. “Sweats, vomiting, swelling, convulsions, and dozens of other symptoms”, are signs of the attack of a Black Widow spider. The bite has been described as “the worst pain you’ve ever felt”. This portrays the Black Widow as an hostile monster with incredibly poisonous venom. Presumably if one has been bitten, they would consult a doctor. This forms a picture of doctors and nurses rushing to find an antivenin before the victim completely succumb to the venom. Knowing how bad a bite is can affect how people view Black Widows. A significant childhood memory is a key motive for his