Introduction
The theme of the story is the unappreciative nature of human beings. The story features two snails who had the whole forest build for them. The story reflects the story in the Garden of Eden in the Genesis chapters of the bible. The two snails had were of a kind just like human beings are when still were in the Garden of Eden. They were the only two of their kind in the forest; the story in part describes the snails to have been the “aristocratic race in the world.” This only shows how noble the two white snails were, they were so special to human beings that human beings built them a forest of the burdock plant. A plant that was so rare and special. Despite all this, the snails still wanted to get into the “Duke’s Palace Castle boiled and then placed on a silver plate.” The main theme of the story is evident in this part of the story. It is clear that the snails were not appreciative enough of what they had, they wanted more.
This in part indicates what happened in the Garden of Eden where inspire of being given the whole garden for the two them, despite of them being the noble race of the entire garden they wanted more. The general population of human beings is unappreciative of what they have and would always want to have more. The snails could not appreciate the rain and the sunshine that played for them music using the burdock leaves and paint the leaves beautifully. They still wanted to get into the palace, be boiled black and then placed in a silver plate. Like Eve in the Garden of Eden, the mother snail wanted more adventure; she wanted to know “how far it (the Garden) extends, and what lies beyond it.” Eve in the Garden of Eden was as adventurous and wanted to have a taste of the uncommon things that happened around which led her and Adam into trouble.
Other side themes evident in the play are love. The two white snails lived harmoniously in the garden and had no major quarrels among themselves and with the others in the garden (ants, frogs and the earth worm) which enabled them to enjoy the peace. It is a message to the human race that through peace and love, we would live peacefully and harmony would be the order of the day. It is beneficial as it is through living in peace that the snails could inquire from their friends, the ants of a spouse for their son.
Another theme would be the pride. The mother snail told the ants that her son could not live in an ant-hill when the ant suggested to them that their son marry the queen ant. The mother ant responded to that their son could not live in an anthill. This show how proud the mother ant was and how he looked down upon the ants.
The story’s plot is developed by the two main characters, the mother snail and the father snail of the white race. They thought of themselves as noble, that the burdock forest was built for them. The main theme is that of curiosity and ignorance. The two snails lived in the burdock Garden but were more curious to know what lived beyond it and ignored the good life they were living. Symbolism has been employed in the story as the two snails are used to symbolize Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and their descendants represent the entire human race.
Before they died, they left the entire Garden to their children and them about the palace and the silver plate. They told them that if they were to lead “upright and honorable lives, and their family increased, they and their children might someday be taken to the nobleman’s palace, to be boiled black, and laid on a silver dish.” When the snails didn’t see the nobleman, they thought the world was for them and as such lived happily. This is a social critique as the human race think they have been abandoned by God but still wouldn’t realize that the rain fell for them and the sun shone for them
Conclusion
The message learnt from the story is to always be appreciative of the little we have. We should never be so absorbed into earning more and more of what we don’t have but to appreciate of that which we have. Life is never about what we want but about making the best of what we have. The two snails should have never lived with the thought or urge to be in the palace built for them and be placed in the silver plate. This showed how bad what they wanted, but due to the ignorance and curiosity, the two snails still wanted to be in the palace and be boiled black.
If they were to achieve this, the snails would die a painful death and end up being eaten by the human beings. This is far less compared to what they had; the beautiful sunshine that shone only for them and the rain that was only for them. Our curiosity, if not checked, could into harmful consequences and thus we need to learn to appreciate that which we have.
