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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from The Life of the Spider by J. Henri Fabre: Tarantulae; I had not the least wish to rear the Spider in a
bottle. I was interested in a different matter. Here, thought I,
is an ardent huntress, living solely by her trade. She does not
prepare preserved foodstuffs for her offspring; {8} she herself
feeds on the prey which she catches. She is not a 'paralyzer,' {9}
who cleverly spares her quarry so as to leave it a glimmer of life
and keep it fresh for weeks at a time; she is a killer, who makes a
meal off her capture on the spot. With her, there is no methodical
vivisection, which destroys movement without entirely destroying
life, but absolute death, as sudden as possible, which protects the
assailant from the counter-attacks of the assailed.
The Life of the Spider |
