Entry 2: Short Story Journal Reading

Mythical Short Story

What you are about to read, is a true story that was posted onto the website "Survival Spot." 

MY GRANDMOTHER INEZ used to stuff towels under her bedroom door whenever I came to visit. Steeped in Appalachian folklore, she believed that hoop snakes rolled downhill, that a milk snake would crawl into a crib to suck the breath from a newborn’s mouth, and that a baby rattlesnake—“three times more poisonous than its mother”—possessed the devil’s tongue. My fascination with the scaly creatures was a witch’s curse in her eyes, and she was deathly afraid that a serpent would crawl from my pocket and strike her in her sleep.“God knows,” she’d say when I dismissed her beliefs as so much mythology. “God knows the truth.”

Reading about this woman and the fate that she believed to be true, reminds me of the novel The Hunger Games, in several ways. It makes me wonder how the Games would have resulted in if the Tributes were this cautious about their survival as she is. I cannot imagine that if every Tribute hid out and tried to stay safe, that things would turn out very well. Some people in the Games did think this way, such as the Foxface girl. She never fought, instead she was always running and sneaking around; even she did not survive. If everyone played like this, then the Gamemakers would most likely end up causing a big fire or another 'natural disaster' to bring all the Tributes into the same area. There they would be forced to fight for their survival. Hearing this story makes me assume that this woman is just worrying for no good reason. Even if something is possible, doesn't mean it is likely to happen. It is alright for her to believe that things like this can happen, but she shouldn't spend too much time worrying about it. In the Games, if you spent your time worrying instead of trying to win, then you would probably starve in an attempt to stay away from the other tributes and their weapons. The similarity that this short story and the novel have is that you are not going to get anywhere worrying about things that might not even happen. No one should worry about death, they should just enjoy surviving. 

Source 

Jones, Donald M. "FACT OR FICTION? TOP 8 SURVIVAL MYTHS." Survival Spot. Ed. William Atkin. N.p., 23 May 2010. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. <http://www.survival-spot.com/survival-blog/fact-or-fiction-top-8-survival-myths/>.