Spent Imagery And Familial Tension In Evan's Short Story Snakes

In Evan’s short story, “Snakes,” the construction of a python phobia and its debilitating effects on Tara’s bodily and mental autonomy serves as a metaphor for her embodiment of the racial and familial tension that encompasses her life. Although the phobia is debilitating, the serpent imageries conjure up the desperate mood of Tara, and more broadly Black society, who are struggling to gain ownership and agency over their bodies from the control of others. Moreover, Tara’s grandmother not only utilizes fear as a method of control but she also attempts to control her granddaughter by means of her aesthetics. Both methods of domination allude to a long history of white control over the Black body. Due to this, the desperate mood also stresses the lengths that Tara and other Black bodies would go to reclaim their autonomy and obtain their agency.

Tara, since the beginning of the short story, is revealed to be a transaction of peace between her mother and grandmother. The conflict between Lydia and Amanda is shown to have arose due to their conflicting stances in a post-racial society. Although a child, Tara is being put at the epicenter of this family and racial conflict since she is the direct product of Amanda’s stigmatized and objected interracial marriage. Tara’s body, the direct product of their conflict, is

Lydia builds Tara’s anxiety and emotional distress by aiding the development of a snake phobia to control and subdue her granddaughter. With this incitement of fear, the grandmother is now able to dictate and control Tara’s body and physical movement. This is due to the debilitating fear that encompasses her life due to this phobia. Her body and her movements are no longer hers since she cannot move without being fearful of being eaten by the python. Her fear is all-encompassing and it stems from her grandmother’s controlling