I figured since a few people seemed interested, I'd post my essay here. It's a little controversial, and I hope some people don't take offense. Otherwise...enjoy!

Snakes: Fear vs. Fact

Imagine walking through the woods and hearing the rustling of leaves upon the forest floor. You’re alone, with only a flashlight to aid you in your poor human night sight, and fear begins to creep up into your mind. You know there are no tigers, and bears are rarely sited unless seen in a zoo, yet, you feel that there’s something to fear in being alone. Your flashlight flickers on and off, adrenaline pumping, and you finally see what’s bred this fear into you: a slimy, disgusting, sixty-foot python with elongated fangs and a hunger for your blood. You try to scream, but are so afraid you can’t move. Trapped, tears running down your face, you watch helplessly as this monstrous beast with at least a ton of coils nears you, flicking a five-foot forked tongue against your face. You feel like you are going to die.

This image is, of course, a wrong depiction of these reptiles’ anatomy as well as an over-exaggeration of what society has labeled them to be. Through religion, specifically Christianity, the media, and the carelessness of people, snakes have been given an unjustified bad name as dangerous animals to be avoided at all costs. Such a bad name, especially now, has been the driving influence in the creation of laws that would further tarnish these wonderful hunters and further cause the general society to lose out on some advantages snakes can bring such as medical research being done to save human lives and the simple fact that most snakes make wonderful pets.

Throughout time, human beings have feared snakes, massacred them, and driven them out of their natural habitats. Christianity has played one of the leading roles in this growing fear. From the story of Genesis, the first encounter with Satan is within the Garden of Eden. Satan, however, disguises himself as a snake, more specifically, a serpent.

And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust thou shalt thou eat all the days of thy life. And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy see and her seed; he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel. (Genesis 3:14-15)

This verse in particular allows the justification of killing snakes, and even hunting them down. Adam and Eve were cast from the Garden of Eden, left to die, harvest their own food instead of nestling safely within the safety of the garden, and they would forever fear snakes as their offspring would thereafter.

The tale of Exodus is just one of many others that expresses a certain fear of snakes. During Moses’ encounter with God at the burning bush. Moses’ first objection to God is that he fears that the people of Israel will not believe him if he claims that God has spoken unto him. “And the Lord said unto him, What is that in thine hand? And he said, A rod. And he [God] said, Cast it on the ground, And he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from before it.” (Exodus 4:2-3). Even Moses, a devout follower of God flees from the serpent in which his God aided in the creation of. However, God expresses to Moses that if he “Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail” (Exodus 4:4) it will again turn into his rod. Through God, Moses can control his rod serpent. With Aaron at Moses’ side, assigned by God to be Moses’ speaker, Moses travels to Egypt to attempt to “Let my people go.” (Exodus 5:1).

Once the tribulation of proving to God’s children that Moses was no hoax, both Aaron and Moses traveled to meet Pharaoh in hopes of freeing the Children of Israel.

And Moses and Aaron went in unto Pharaoh, and they did as the Lord had commanded: and Aaron cast down his rod before Pharaoh and before his servants and it became a serpent. The Pharaoh also called the wise men and the sorcerers. Now the magicians of Egypt, they also did in like manner with their enchantments. For they cast down every man his rod and they became serpents but Aaron’s rod swallowed up their rods. (Exodus 7:10-12)

The miracle of casting the rod into the serpent was an attempt to prove to Pharaoh that the God of the Children of Israel was powerful and strong. Yet, even Moses feared this serpent, and Pharaoh seemed fearful yet hardened himself. Following this event, the Ten Deadly Plagues of Egypt occurred.

There are, however, certain religious sects that are primarily polytheistic who worship snakes and snake gods. The Egyptian Pantheon includes Nehebkau who is an Egyptian snake god. Nehebkau is believed to be one of the original Gods who were a part of creation and he also protected dead pharaohs during the afterlife and protected against scorpion stings as well as even snake bites.

Hollywood, though liberal and open to new ideas, has also aided in this bad name for snakes. Movies throughout the years have portrayed snakes as vicious, bloody-hungry monsters that would stop at nothing to wrap coils around human bodies. The Disney film The Jungle Book is just one of many movies that interpret snakes in such a way.

The snake Kaa is a masterful deceiver who in The Jungle Book who attempts to lure a lonely, untrusting Mowgli into his coils. He attempts to sooth the man-cub into a lull, waiting until Mowgli falls asleep, and is interrupted by Shere Khan, the feared, man-eating tiger. As the deceiver, Kaa convinces a reluctant Khan away only to lose his man-cub prey item. This movie, though probably unintentionally, teaches children at a young age that snakes are bad and that they are out to eat man; this simply is not true. Another film that proves such a taint upon snakes is 1997’s Anaconda.

Jon Voight plays a very convincing stranded man, by the name of Paul Sarone, who takes advantage of a film expedition crew upon the Amazon river and convinces a money-hungry Gary Dixon (Owen Wilson) to help him catch a live anaconda. Voight, however, states one of the many misconceptions about constrictors in this video, and furthers the mockery in this film.

“Anacondas are a perfect killing machine. They strike, wrap around you, hold you tighter than your true love – and you get the privilege of hearing your bones break before the power of the embrace causes your veins to explode….” (John Voight, Anaconda).

Constrictors may snap bones on occasion, but their primary means of killing involves simply tightening every time a prey item breathes, depriving prey from breathing at all. Another misconception depicted within Anaconda is that this particular beast eats multiple humans throughout a few day time period. Anacondas in the wild, however, will take down a capybara and not eat for weeks and even months. The capybara is the largest rodent in the world.