"The Rattler" is a simple, yet powerful chronicle of a man's killing of a rattlesnake in a desert. Although the man narrates the story, it is told mainly from the perspective of the rattlesnake, as though the narrator is empathizing with the snake. The snake is seen as human-like and deserving of admiration and reverence from the reader. The author makes this possible by illustrating the narrator's respect for the snake and by emphasizing the narrator's own impression of the rattler's viewpoint.
The reader sees the snake as an equal opponent to the man in the story because the man sees him as such. His impression of the snake colors the reader's impression of the snake. Because a major character in the incident narrates the story, the story is more intimate and allows for a direct communication of the esteem the narrator has for the rattler. His appreciation for the life of the snake is constantly demonstrated in the story. He continuously refers to the snake not as "it" but as "he," personifying the snake and elevating it to a human status, demonstrating his appreciation for the life of the rattlesnake. The author lets the speaker's humble intentions be known early in the story; the narrator makes it clear that his "first instinct was to let him go his way and I would go mine." This demonstrates the how the narrator sees the life of the snake just as worthy of preservation as his own life. He decides, though, that his "duty, plainly, [is] to kill the snake," not because he feels he must prove himself as a superior creature or save his own life, but because the are "children, dogs, horses at the ranch, as well and men and women lightly shod." In saying this, the author makes it evident that there is a greater purpose in killing the rattler, that the persona sees his defeat of the rattler as undesirable yet necessary. The author subtly hints to the remorse that the narrator feels after killing the snake and to the reverence he has for the snake after death; he does not "cut the rattles off for a trophy," and he sees the snake "as he might have let him go, sinuous and self respecting," communicating the value of the life that he has just taken.
