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What Is The Theme Of The Man And The Serpent

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On the Man and the Serpent
1.Introduction on the fable
The story the Man and the Serpent is about harm and forgiveness. It starts with the death of the countryman’s son. Having trod on a serpent, the countryman’s son was bitten by it and died. The farmer was furious and cut the serpent’s tail by his axe. This upset the snake, it revenged on the farmer by stinging his cattle. The farmer wanted to call a halt on this war, claiming that he would forgive the serpent for killing his son. He also hoped the snake could forget its lost tail. However the serpent revealed the truth that both of them wouldn’t forget the loss. The story ends by a moral-teaching: Injuries may be forgiven, but not forgotten.
2.The story and Empathy
At my first glance, the …show more content…

How do we come up with this idea? The basic reason is that we estimate everything with our shaped thinking-pattern and under our moral-evaluation system. We are not used to put our feet into others’ shoes. Our children are dear to us. The tail is treasured to a snake as well. The loss of the countryman and the serpent are not comparable. Take my own experience as an example. My cousin and I grew up together. As a girl, I was a big fan of Barbie dolls and I had vast collection of them,while my cousin was a viechle enthusiast and own an enormous collection of car models. One day we had a bet, striking a deal that if either of us won, the loser would gave the most favourable toy to the winner. It turned out I was the loser, as the deal, I gave the most beautiful doll in my collection to my cousin. Several days later, I found my Barbie laying on the sofa with a leg missing. I was furious to cry. To comfort me, our granny made my cousin to give his favourite toy car to me. It was a white Porsche model, a real beauty. But as a little girl who fascinated with blonde dolls in dresses with frills, the model never drove my sadness away. There is a probe: a man’s trash is another’ treasure. Due to our different evaluation standard, there is no solid criterion for what is valuable. If we can get this, the blame and hatred will be diluted when conflicts rises. And this kind of …show more content…

As far as I concerned, the serpent is just realistic and honesty. For most of the circumstances, hurts can not be forgive, let alone being forgotten. The serpent knows that well, and has the courage to admit that. Not all the conflicts can be settle, and the world doesn’t have to run without conflicts. The reluctant forgiveness and forget are no better than lies. Being honest to your inner mind is the first step to do the right thing and be a good man. It’s never too late to forgive as long as we truly mean it. However, the ones who try to be nice just for the thought that they should be kind will not live to the honor of a good

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