Roald Dahl Poison

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You have 2 choices. One is that you can perform and excruciatingly difficult task for hours on end or you can take the easy way out and end your life. In the story poison by Roald Dahl, Harry Pope is left in basically the same predicament. One night while reading Harry sees out of the corner of his eye, a krait. Kraits, brown or black skinned snakes with yellow or white stripes, are poisonous snakes found in India and are known to slither into people's homes and into villages. The story poison is set in India around 1947 before India gained its independence from Great Britain. Harry Pope and his friend Timber Woods are British living in India in one of the colonies. While Indians typically resented the British control, it's an underlying factor …show more content…

It was clear Harry was absolutely terrified. He would not have acted so scared unless he had seen or felt a krait. Timber says, “The way he was speaking reminded me of George Barling, after he had been shot in the stomach” (337). Harry was speaking this way because he was trying his best not to move his stomach muscles, which is where the krait was located. Timber also says “I saw the cord of his pajama trousers, neatly tied in a bow” (345). Although he may have mistaken his cord for a krait, he would not have seen it. He claims he saw it. He also would not have felt the weight of his cord but he felt the weight on his stomach which all caused him to be so nervous. Harry’s anxiety showed his friend, Timber, that he was truly scared, so Timber was confident in …show more content…

Everyone was trying diligently to help Harry because they believed him. Harry also would not put that much strain on his body unless he knew for a fact there was a krait under his sheets. Timber talks about how “The smell of chloroform was awful” (344). The 3 of them would not bare the oppressive smell of chloroform for no reason. They all believed a krait was under the sheets. The snake also probably slithered of at this time. Timber also says “Don’t you listen to Harry; this whole thing has him so he doesn’t know what hes saying” (346). Harry was obviously stressed and embarrassed after the snake had just disappeared because he knew he had seen a krait. Everybody’s strain may have been great, but in the end the krait was no longer under Harry’s

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