9. “Yet I was not to taste the victory. The kick of the big pistol sent me reeling backward. I had forgotten about the pit behind me! Over the edge I went, then tumbling and bouncing against the irregular sides, and all the while I was grabbing wildly for something and finding nothing.” 204
Being thrown into a snake pit is the punishment for one of the seven deadly sins, slothfulness. Mattie is the opposite of slothful, she has nothing but zeal, yet she is thrown into a pit of snakes as if she has been slothful. Portis uses a snake pit to emphasize the theme in the book about how things do not always happening fairly. There is no fate for certain actions and life is out of everyone’s control but God’s. So although Mattie is an opposite of this sin, she receives the punishment anyways because that is just how things happen sometimes.
"The Sin of Sloth." 7 Deadly Sins, 7 Heavenly Virtues. Web. 30 Nov. 2011. <http://www.deadlysins.com/sins/sloth.html>.
The "Portis uses a snake..." sentence is quite cumbersome -- how can you tighten your language down? Make the same point in fewer words?
ReplyDeleteAnd what else occurs in the novel that demonstrates Portis' concern with a lack of fairness?