Reader Response

Cecil Rajendra, in The Animal and Insect Act, offers a vehement response to humanity's exploitative attitude towards nature, using satire to question the inconsistency of laws designed for the protection of humans, at the cost of the animals, insects and ultimately nature. Rajendra's poem challenges legislation that is supposed to regulate how humans treat animals and insects, revealing the hypocrisy whenever such legislation is introduced under the guise of "protecting" animals. By being in favor of these laws, we continue to uphold the dominance of humans over the rest of the living world, and mock the notion that "these laws are beneficial for the animals" since the statement remains only true for the humans in dominant power.

Through Rajendra’s imagery and tone, one can sense anger and helplessness as a reader because the poem makes it clear that the creatures mentioned are at the mercy of man. Through sarcasm and irony, the poet illustrates how the purpose and effect of such laws can be at odds, showing how governments and corporations use positive-sounding laws to do just the opposite of protecting the environment. And for instance, the laws tend to permit harm to any animal and insect where the person enforcing the laws can profit, and the laws treat the animals and insects as property rather than living beings with value independent of how useful they can be to humans.

However, this is not just a richly illustrative poem — it is a challenge to the reader to consider their complicity in this system, to feel guilty, and to realise that we must be aware about what kind of a society does this so-called "protection" create — all of which has been invited by Rajendra's words. It provokes a more compassionate view on nature and a wish that all living beings be genuinely protected, not exploited for human ends."