THE SOFT VOICE OF
THE SERPENT
By Nadine Gordimer
About the Writer
• Nadine Gordimer was born
on November 20, 1923 into
a privileged white South African family.
• By the age of 9 she was writing, and she
published her first story in a magazine
when she was 15.
• Her novels and short stories explore the
effect of apartheid on the lives of South
Africans.
• She is a South African novelist and short-
story writer whose major theme was exile
and alienation. She received the Nobel
Prize for Literature in 1991.
• Never an outstanding scholar, she attended
the University of Witwatersrand for one
year. In addition to writing, she lectured and
taught at various schools in the United
States during the 1960s and '70s.
Outline
• A man who has lost his leg spends many
hours, while he is recuperating, in a garden.
He sees a locust which has also lost a leg,
but, of course, it can fly.
Discussion
• Not very much happens in this story. The
focus is rather on the man and how he
copes with having lost a leg. He is twentysix and has, in some way we do not know,
lost his left leg.
• The story starts as his wife wheels him for
the first time into the garden. As the days
pass, he starts to heal, emotionally and
psychologically, as well as physically. His
wife keeps him company every day.
• One day a locust flies past her head and she
jumps up, scattering her sewing things. She then
goes to prepare tea. He, meanwhile, sees a
locust, probably the same one, and starts to study
it.
• Soon he realises that it is trying very hard to walk
but it has lost its leg. In excitement at finding
‘someone’ just like him, he calls his wife. Together
they watch it.
• The wife prods it gently and then flicks at it. It
immediately flies away.
• Both of them had forgotten that, of course, a
locust is not exactly like a man; it has wings and it
can fly.
The Title – The Soft Voice of the Serpent
• The title refers to the
Garden of Eden, a
place of beauty and
perfection, but evil
comes into the garden
and everything is
changed.
• The man has almost healed while sitting in
the garden, but the locust is a reminder that
he cannot spend the rest of his life in the
garden.
• As the serpent spoilt Eden, so the locust
spoils the man’s garden – he has to face
the fact that he cannot fly
• The man’s loss represents tragedy – We all
have to face reality some time.
Emotional and psychological
response
• The man believes the garden will help him
to recover
• The trees will have a soothing effect.
• He will be protected in the garden.
• He doesn’t yet want to face the ‘stare of the
world’.
• He is very conscious of “the sunken place under
the rug where his leg used to be”.
• The garden will help him to come to an
understanding of his condition – to accept that
he is crippled
• He has a ‘system’ (plan) to remain calm –
avoid being depressed
• He tries to keep busy by reading - not to think
about his missing leg
• Evidence of recovery
• A week or two later – he is able to stop reading
and enjoy the garden
• He looks calm – not agitated or upset
• “the relaxed feeling of his mouth”
• “In the upward lying palm of his hand”
• Incident of the locust
• Hurt and unhappy
• Empathy - Identifies with the locust – knows
exactly how it feels
• Excited – here is ‘someone’ who shares his
position – “The two of us”
• Irritable and angry – locust flies away – he has
lost a “friend” – realises the he is crippled, but
the locust is not – can still fly
Themes
• Coping with reality
• A person can cope and recover from personal
tragedy
• For a human being the loss of a leg is
permanent
• Sorrow of tragedy  relief of recovery
• Empathy with locust
Figurative Language
• “The firs part silkily as a child’s fine straight
hair”
• Figure of Speech?
• Simile
• Effect?
• Suggests the softness of the
trees and how smooth they
are
• “the face was curiously human”
• Figure of Speech?
• Metaphor
• Effect?
• The locust is like
an old man with
his face almost
appearing human
Sources
• www.biography.com
• www.essaymania.com
• Studymate Study Guide