You Are Now Entering the Human Heart

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NCEA Level 2 English Reading Response You Are Now Entering the Human Heart is a short story written by Janet Frame, it is a short story that is written in first person, the narrator is in the shadows of the Natural Science Museum observing a class from the city on a school trip under the control of an elderly teacher, Miss Aitcheson. The narrator is on a timed schedule as she has to catch a train home. She is making her way over to the museum when she walks past a large exhibition of the human heart and wonders whether she has enough time to visit it, however she decides against it. The class is there to have a lesson on snake handling by the museum attendant who had been working with snakes for years. He tells Miss Aitcheson that the best way for the students to not be as afraid of the snake, is through her. The attendant says that if she shows no fear of the snake, the students would be less afraid as well. So before Miss Aitcheson can protest the attendant drapes the snake over her shoulders. Miss Aitcheson hides her panic and fear and attempts to put on a mask of bravery, nobody but the narrator can see right through this. The attendant is blinded by his love for reptiles and even though knows the snake isn’t harmless, he doesn’t realize the teacher doesn’t, even the children look at her with admiration and a few come up to see the snake. But when the snake slowly moves around to face Miss Aitcheson and thrust its head towards her cheek, she screams and couldn’t manage to hold her mask of bravery any longer, as she throws the snake off her shoulders and cowers into a corner. Some of the observers laugh, others cry, the attendant picks up the snake and nurses it, but the narrator just observes her. The narrator didn’t feel as if she should watch anymore, so she rushes off to catch her train home, saying that there was no time to visit the human heart today but
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