Snake-carrying burlap sack

The Snake-carrying burlap sack is the improvised container through which Charlie Croker carries a live rattlesnake into the Snake House and releases it among six others. It does not make the snake safe: the animal thrashes inside, its fangs pierce the loose weave, and venom spurts through the fabric. The sack instead gives Croker a precarious means of holding and transporting danger, turning a risky feat into a public display of control.

Material and Immediate Function

The sack’s defining features are practical and stark. Croker opens its mouth, thrusts the rattlesnake’s head down into it, releases his grip, and pulls the drawstring tight. He then holds the sack aloft by those strings. The closing gesture contains the animal, but only provisionally: the burlap thrashes as the snake fights inside, and its fangs knife through the fabric. Even the venom finds a way out, squirting into the air through the loose weave. The sack is therefore not a sealed barrier. Its use depends on holding the animal inside despite visible signs that the material cannot stop every part of the threat.

The drawstrings give Croker a way to keep his hand away from the snake once he has pulled it into the sack. They also let him suspend the bag while he carries it. Those simple functions do not remove the danger; they make it possible to manage the danger at a distance, through Croker’s grip and judgment. The sack remains a bag of living, forceful movement rather than a passive container. Its furious motion makes its contents apparent, while the fangs piercing outward show that the boundary between animal and handler is fragile.

Carried to the Snake House

Croker carries the sack toward the Snake House, about fifty yards beyond the stable, holding it far out from his shoulder by the drawstrings. The distance from his body matters: he knows of men bitten by diamondbacks after letting a bag get too close to them. The sack’s position is thus part of his handling of it, not a casual way of carrying an ordinary load. His arm strains under the weight and movement, but he refuses to ask anyone to help him. The bag lets him proceed alone, while its suspended distance from his body records the risk he is taking.

The procession behind him extends the scene beyond a private test of nerve. The stablehands form a straggling line, with The Wiz bringing up the rear. Croker can hear some of them making sounds of awe, which he takes as music to his ears. The sack is at once a practical burden and the visible center of this display: Croker leads, others follow, and the danger travels with him in full view. Although his body is gimping, he feels light on his feet and believes he has done something—and is about to do more. The bag’s movement with him links physical strain to his sense of having accomplished a feat.

Transfer into the Terrarium

Inside the Snake House, Croker carries the sack to a terrarium containing six large rattlesnakes. The other men hang back, and The Wiz positions himself nearer the door than the glass enclosure. Croker does not ask for assistance or look toward anyone. He shifts the sack from his left hand to his right, raises one end of the wire-mesh grille, and sets the sack’s mouth on the lip of the glass. Then he lifts the bottom of the bag to an angle of about sixty degrees. The transfer depends on a sequence of controlled movements: opening the enclosure, placing the sack, and tipping it so the snake can emerge.

As the rattlesnake begins to protrude, its fangs and Croker’s bare left hand are separated by no more than six inches; that hand is holding up the lid. More of the animal’s body follows until its full six or seven feet slide out of the sack and drop into the terrarium among the other snakes. The sack’s role changes at that point. First it holds the animal against its struggles; then, opened and tilted, it becomes a passage between Croker’s hands and the enclosure. Croker lowers the lid gingerly and withdraws the empty sack. The newcomer joins the other snakes in a state of agitation, making clear that a successful transfer has not made the animal docile.

A Boundary That Does Not End the Threat

After the transfer, Croker stands looking at the seven rattlesnakes. The others step closer, but he keeps his attention on the terrarium and secretly removes his car keys from his pocket. He throws them against the glass; the newcomer strikes first, and the other six follow almost immediately. Everyone but Croker jumps back. The sack is no longer in the immediate action, yet the danger it contained remains present behind the glass. The sequence distinguishes containment from mastery: Croker has moved the snake out of the sack, but the enclosure still holds a mass of striking animals capable of frightening the onlookers.

The sack’s significance lies in this progression from unstable covering to controlled transfer, not in any suggestion that the threat has vanished. Its fabric is pierced; its contents must be carried at arm’s length; its mouth must be placed carefully against the terrarium; and Croker’s hand comes within inches of the snake’s fangs during the release. Each use makes the boundary between handler and animal visible and precarious. The sack enables Croker to carry out the feat, but the scene’s final recoil at the terrarium shows the limits of what the feat accomplishes: the danger has changed location, not disappeared.