Kaya Hemmer’s Reviews > Men Without Women > Status Update

"In these legends, the biggest, smartest snake hides its heart somewhere outside its body, so that it doesn't get killed. If you want to kill that snake, you need to go to its hideout when it's not there, locate the beating heart, and cut it in two."

went back to this after finishing- the snakes represent the hidden, repressed emotions that the main character kino harbors (and how ignoring them can lead to danger).

"I wasn't hurt enough when I should have been. When I should have felt real pain, I stifled it. I didn't want to take it on, so I avoided facing up to it. Which is why my heart is so empty now. The snakes have grabbed that spot and are trying to hide their coldly beating hearts there. 'This was a comfortable place not just for me but for anybody,' Kamita had said. Kino finally understood what he meant."

“If that’s what you wish to call it, then we men are all living with the same sort of blind spot.”

“But the proposition that we can look into another person’s heart with perfect clarity strikes me as a fool’s game. I don’t care how well we think we should understand them, or how much we love them. All it can do is cause us pain. If we hope to *truly* see another person, we have to start by looking within ourselves.