Question

What makes the child comfortable the next time he sees the garden snake?

Answer 1

Hint: The poem, 'Garden Snake' by Muriel L. Sonne is an oversimplified portrayal of an innocuous snake. The subject of the sonnet Garden Snake is the helpfulness of snakes.

Complete answer:
Through the poem, ‘Garden Snake’, the poet portrays how the kid's dread gets supplanted and he can watch the snake with delight. The first time the child sees the snake, he is overwhelmed with fear. The narrator thought the snake to be dangerous and out of dread fled. This is perceived in the line “I saw a snake and ran away.”However, on being told by his mother that this specific snake is not perilous, the child becomes comfortable the next time he encounters the garden snake.

This total difference of the child’s demeanour towards snakes is shown in the line “I’ll stand aside and watch him pass”. The child comprehended that the snakes lived on insects only and did not hurt others.
We are all afraid of snakes but we don’t understand that they eat up the insects in the garden and consequently serve a purpose.

Note: The young child narrator, in his obliviousness, had expected a wide range of snakes to be hazardous. However, from his mom he discovered that only one out of every odd sort of snake is risky, some are, most are not. This makes him calmly admire the garden snake at whatever point he saw it next. Likewise, the narrator discovered that it is important to assemble information about any new thing or animal one encounters prior to making one's assessment.