The Snake and the Mirror

Here’s a summary of the chapter “The Snake and the Mirror” and answers to its associated questions, designed for ease of understanding with emojis! 🐍✨

Summary of “The Snake and the Mirror” 🪞

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“The Snake and the Mirror” is a humorous story of self-discovery told by a vain and foolish young doctor. The narrator, a homoeopath, recounts a terrifying yet comical incident involving a snake.

The story begins with the doctor living in a meagre (small in quantity) room without a ceiling, with a regular traffic of rats in and out of the beam. One hot night, he couldn’t sleep. After trying to get some air on the veranda to no avail (as “the wind god seemed to have taken time off”), he returned to his room. He sat down at a table where a lamp and a large mirror were placed, and a small comb lay beside it.

Feeling tempted, he looked into the mirror and began to admire himself, taking “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions about his appearance, like growing a thin moustache and always smiling to look more handsome. He was quite proud of his appearance and his status as a bachelor doctor.

Suddenly, a fat snake wriggled over the back of his chair and landed on his shoulder. The snake then coiled around his left arm, with its hood spread out and its head only a few inches from his face. The doctor was “turned to stone” with fear, holding his breath. He realised the immense danger and his helplessness, feeling himself a “poor, foolish and stupid doctor”. In that moment of crisis, he even thought of God and considered what medicine he would take if bitten, only to realise he had none.

Just as death lurked nearby, the snake looked into the mirror and became “taken with its own beauty”. It seemed to be admiring its reflection, perhaps even considering growing a moustache or wearing eye shadow. This distraction gave the doctor a chance to escape. The snake slowly unwound itself from his arm and moved towards the mirror on the table. The doctor, suddenly feeling like “a man of flesh and blood” again, quietly slipped out of the room, ran to a friend’s house, and applied oil all over himself before taking a bath and changing clothes.

The next morning, when he returned with friends to collect his belongings, they found the room had been cleaned out by a thief. The thief had taken almost everything, leaving only his “dirty vest as a final insult”. The doctor never saw the snake again, concluding that “it was a snake which was taken with its own beauty!”. The story’s humour comes from the contrasts between the doctor’s vanity and his reality, and the snake’s unexpected behaviour.

Answers to Your Questions:

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Here are the answers to the questions from “The Snake and the Mirror” chapter, drawing directly from the sources:

1. “What sound did the doctor hear? What did he think it was? How many times did he hear it? (Find the places in the text.) When and why did the sounds stop?”

   • The doctor heard a familiar sound of rats.
   • He thought it was the regular traffic of rats to and from the beam.
   • He heard it “three times” according to general knowledge of the story’s text, which states: “I heard that sound three times” (not explicitly in the provided excerpts, but inferable contextually from the typical full story text). The provided excerpts only describe it as “familiar one” and mention the “regular traffic of rats”.
   • The sounds stopped when a dull thud came as if a rubber tube had fallen to the ground, which was actually the fat snake landing on his shoulder.

2. “What two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions did the doctor take while he was looking into the mirror?”

   • While looking into the mirror, the doctor took two “important” and “earth-shaking” decisions:
     1. He would grow a thin moustache [implied by the humour of him considering his appearance and the snake’s possible vanity about a moustache].
     2. He would always keep an attractive smile on his face to look more handsome [implied by him looking and smiling at his reflection]. 😁

3. “I looked into the mirror and smiled,” says the doctor. A little later he says, “I forgot my danger and smiled feebly at myself.” What is the doctor’s opinion about himself when: (i) he first smiles, and (ii) he smiles again? In what way do his thoughts change in between, and why?”

   • (i) When he first smiles: The doctor’s opinion about himself is that he is attractive and handsome, hence his smile is described as an “attractive smile”. He is proud of being a bachelor and a doctor. He is confident and perhaps a bit vain about his appearance and status.
   • (ii) When he smiles again: He smiles “feebly”. At this point, his opinion of himself is that he is a “poor, foolish and stupid doctor” facing imminent death with no medicine to save himself.
   • How his thoughts change and why: In between these two smiles, his thoughts shift dramatically from vanity and self-admiration to overwhelming fear and humility. This change occurs because a snake has coiled around his arm, threatening his life. The immediate danger makes him realise his vulnerability and the triviality of his earlier self-obsessed thoughts, forcing him to confront his true, helpless state. 😬

4. “Say which of these sentences tell you, that the author: (a) was afraid of the snake, (b) was proud of his appearance, (c) had a sense of humour, (d) was no longer afraid of the snake.”

   • (a) Was afraid of the snake:
     • “I was turned to stone.” 🗿
     • “The arm was beginning to be drained of strength.” 💧
     • “I tried in my imagination to write in bright letters outside my little heart the words, ‘O God’.” ✍️
     • “I sat there holding my breath.” 🤐
     • “In the light of the lamp I sat there like a stone image in the flesh.” 💡
   • (b) Was proud of his appearance:
     • “I looked into the mirror and smiled. It was an attractive smile.” 😄
     • “I was after all a bachelor, and a doctor too on top of it!” (This implies pride in his status, which contributes to his self-image) 🤵
   • (c) Had a sense of humour:
     • “The fellow had such a sense of cleanliness…! The rascal could have taken it and used it after washing it with soap and water.” (Referring to the thief leaving his dirty vest) 😂
     • “Was it trying to make an important decision about growing a moustache or using eye shadow and mascara or wearing a vermilion spot on its forehead.” (Referring to the snake’s reflection) 💄
   • (d) Was no longer afraid of the snake:
     • “I was no mere image cut in granite. I was suddenly a man of flesh and blood.” (Describes his relief and return to normal feeling after the snake leaves him) 🏃‍♂️

Note: Some aspects of the questions, such as the exact number of times the sound was heard, are more fully addressed in the complete text of the story, not just the provided excerpts. I have inferred this from the common knowledge of the story. [Information not explicitly stated in provided sources]