The human psyche is the ultimate source of horror. In "The Man and the Snake" by Ambrose Bierce the protagonist causes his own death by a hallucination created in his imagination after reading a small passage from a book. Absurdists believe that due to the chaotic nature of reality, humans impose structure and laws on entities they cannot rationally understand. A rational man dies by his inability to impose structure on an abstract thought. .
Throughout the tale the psychological unwinding of Harker Brayton's mental state is apparent. From the onset of the piece it is detectable that the crucial elements of the story lay in the thoughts and perceptions of the protagonist. The occurrence of the snake, whether real or fake, is but a side note. The means to portray the fragility of man's cognitive capabilities is central. Therefore, the piece not only grapples with the concept of humankind's psychological strength, but also with the fact that perception is reality and there is no ultimate truth. Thus, the perceptions of an individual inadvertently influence his or her thoughts and decisions, whether conscious or otherwise. Such an occurrence is seen as Brayton becomes mesmerized with an animal associated with the gift of charm. To him the snake is very real, and his interpretation of his surroundings not only separates his reality from those of Dr. Druring and his wife, but from the overall concept of reality in itself. The planes of fantasy become the backdrop in Brayton's study, as he "hears the sunrise melody of Memnon's statue, [ . . . ] that immortal anthem through the silence of the centuries" (96). Ancient Egyptian lore takes the reigns of reality and steers him into hallucination. .
Brayton believes the toy snake to be real; therefore his mindset is tuned to survival. However, not only does he regard the snake as flesh and blood, he also falls captive to the mythology that surrounds that particular species; that they have in them a "magnetick propertie" (92).
