The Lord's striking dead a number of hungry Israelites who have begun to eat some sun-dried quail — "The meat was still between their teeth, it had not yet been chewed, when the Lord's wrath flared against the people" — seems savage, as does the slaying of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram, the leaders of some grumblers.
"If you write about us, don't make us seem like savages".
Although Dahl was known for archness, even cruelty — remember Violet Beauregarde, in Willy Wonka's factory, blowing up into a huge blueberry — the new book seemed unusually savage.
"What Stalin made me drink seemed pretty savage: Winston, who by that time was complaining of a slight headache, seemed wisely to be confining himself to a comparatively innocuous effervescent Caucasian red wine".
But 50 years later, The Grapes of Wrath seems as savage as ever, and richer for my greater awareness of what Steinbeck did with the Oklahoma dialect and with his characters.
While the England team followed a path of high hopes that sank abruptly into dismay, Osborne's grim warnings of dire austerity prepared us for a bloodbath budget that, on the day, seemed less savage than many expected.
However I wonder what all of this -- including the life without parole (a potential possibility) -- says about us as a society, and as individuals who likely see ourselves as too busy to preoccupy ourselves with something that seems indubitably savage.
The coastal erosions that every now and again send cascades of scree down on to Winnie's exposed, oh-so-vulnerable head seem like a savage miniature stoning by merciless unseen forces, and as she tries – and often fails – to recall "that unforgettable line", you cannot but help think of the erosions of the mind that so often accompany old age.
Savages seem to be media savvy enough to use social media to their advantage, while trying to redefine what social media could mean to people.
