Creatures on My Mind

“Creatures on My Mind”

In the short story, “Creatures on My Mind,” by Ursula Le Guin, there were many

different symbols throughout the story. The author talks about a beetle, a sparrow, and a

gull to get the reader to understand what she is trying to say.

The character first starts out talking about a experience she had while sitting on

her porch. While sitting their she recognized a beetle lying on it’s back twitching and

suffering. She thought about ending the beetles life but couldn’t put herself through it. I

think the that the beetle represents how human interaction should be looked at. Human

interaction should be looked at what’s on the inside not what’s on the surface, and to take

feelings into consideration. When the character doesn’t end the life of the beetle he

reveals that she respects all living things, even things she can’t stand.

The second experience that the character stumbles upon is a sparrow trapped in a

cage. The character finds someone with a key to open the cage and successfully lets the

sparrow go. This experience shows us that we will go out of our way to help a helpless,

hurting creature, but the way we go about doing it isn’t always the right way. We