"The Rattler"

The author of the passage, "The Rattler" creates two equally likable characters which presents a dilemma for the reader. The author wants the reader to believe that life is dear in his story "The Rattler." The author uses smaller effect to produce the overall picture of life being dear. The conflict between the snake and man makes the reader realize that life is precious and the author controls the readers emotions through lesser effects. The author uses smaller effects to make the reader like the man, he then continues to depict the snake as an innocent creature, and he also has the man justifying his intentions to kill the snake to produce the overall effect of life being dear.

The author first portrays the man as a likable character creating the effect of life being dear. The author first displays the man to the reader as a person who likes nature by expressing details about the man. "I walked out into the desert." The author depicts the man among the setting of nature because the author knows a reader is more favorable to character who enjoys nature. The author then uses first person point of view to produce a likable main character. The man says that "my duty" is to kill the snake to protect the women and children of the farm he is working on. The author creates a man who thinks not only about himself but about other people, and this creates an image of an admirable, likable person. All the characteristics the author uses to produce a likable man is related to his major theme of life being dear, when he creates an equally likable character, in the snake.

The author then depicts the snake as an innocent creature to continue to produce the effect of life being dear for the snake, also. When the author first introduces the snake to the reader the snake did not have his head "drawn back to strike." The detail to include the snake's "calm watchfulness" and demeanor of the snake creates an effect of a snake that is not mean or despicable, but of a snake that is