Snake

"The Snake" by DH Lawrence deals heavily with the intersection of speciesism through the mans interaction with the snake. Throughout the poem the narrator struggles to fight against the speciesism that has been ingrained. He has no real reason to kill the snake, yet he finds himself torn over what the right choice is. The more he tried to resist the urge to harm the snake, the more he found himself questioning if he was afraid or showing cowardice, rather than seeing himself as brave or in the right. He ends up succumbing to the ideals of speciesism, and throws a log at the snake. The narrator had no justified reason to do any harm to the snake, especially when the snake was in the process of leaving. The poem relates the consequences of the intersection of speciesism by highlighting the random and unjustified acts of violence it creates between humans and nonhuman animals. Speciesism is what gave the narrator of the poem the ability to justify his actions against the snake, even though he immediately felt regret for what he had done.