ipl-logo

How Does Thoreau Use Allegory In The Battle Of The Ants

676 Words3 Pages

The essay “The Battle of the Ants” by Henry David Thoreau can be analyzed in many different ways. Thoreau uses allegory in this essay to describe the similarities between war in the human and animal world. By using this literary device Thoreau is able to create a moral, spiritual, and political meaning. War is a natural thing that happen in the human and animal world. In Thoreau’s essay “The Battle of the Ants” Thoreau explores the similarities between the human and animal worlds. He discovers that both humans and animals fight wars over similar things. They will fight for there morals, spirituality, and political viewings. Even though they are different morals, spirituality, and political viewings, they are still the main reasons for why humans and animals fight wars. Humans and animals are both fighting wars that help them in their survival. Both are in a world that is either life or death. …show more content…

As he is studying them he sees that they aren’t fighting over anything. So why would they be fighting? Thoreau describes this not as a “duellem, but a bellum”. It seems that the ants are separated into two different groups. They look to be in a “political” war just like in human war. As Thoreau studies these ants he starts to notice individual ants. He first notices a tiny red ant that is attacking a much larger black ant even though the red ant is hurt. This shows perseverance just like in humans which gives emotion to the animal world. Thoreau goes on to say that it seems that the ants have a battle cry, “Conquer or Die”, which again is something similar to human war. With the ants individually attacking and taking on tasks much harder than they should it gives them what seems to be a set of “morals”. Fighting for themselves and the ones they see as

Show More
Related

  • Beast Lord Of The Flies Dbq Essay

    581 Words  | 3 Pages

    One example from the passage representing war is a quote from Golding in lines 15-17 of “The off-stage protagonist”(Doc C): “Where did the Second World War come from? Was it made by something inhuman and alien- or was it made by chaps with eyes and legs and hearts?” To clarify, when Golding said “Something inhuman and alien”, he meant something like a beast. This quote is Golding straightforwardly saying that the “Beast” represents war.

    Read More

  • Things They Carried Rhetorical Analysis

    784 Words  | 4 Pages

    Tree frogs, maybe, or snakes or flying squirrels or who-knew-what.” The author’s purpose for using personification in this particular passage is to reveal how chilling this war is, how it’s unlike any other battlefield. Also, how it intimidated the soldiers. The war must had been alarming for these animals to behave this way, abnormal and out of character. Another reason why this war is horrifying.

    Read More

  • Birmingham Jail Pdf

    907 Words  | 4 Pages

    Thoreau, knowing the widely accepted value of justice, says "If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go; perchance it will wear smooth - certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring, or a pulley, or a rope, or a crank, exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine. " His goal here is to inspire individuals to break unjust laws, to ultimately achieve the perfect idea of a government. By convincing his audience that civil disobedience is ethically and morally right, he achieves that goal.

    Read More

  • Totalitarianism In The Once And Future King

    882 Words  | 4 Pages

    The novel The Once and Future King by T. H. White features a character named Merlyn, who is a wizard and also a mentor for the Wart. He teaches Wart skills that are important for a ruler to have by turning him into different animals and sending him on adventures. During his adventures he learns numerous lessons from the different animals. White uses the ants and the pike in order to critique World War Two and totalitarianism and reach the overall message that humanity has become greedy, malevolent and barbaric. The rise of a totalitarian leader is exemplified in the moat and

    Read More

  • Elie Wiesel Dehumanize Animals At Night

    361 Words  | 2 Pages

    Together, all of these examples of imagery develop the idea of the animal behavior of the story’s characters by depicting the atrocities and strident conditions the inmates face throughout the

    Read More

  • Going To Live In The Woods Rhetorical Analysis

    1022 Words  | 5 Pages

    The use of antithesis converted his opinion into a supportable assertion. 2. The first simile Thoreau used was about ants and pygmies (“Still we live… wretchedness”). This simile describes how these two groups have a purpose but they do things that don’t benefit themselves in the long run.

    Read More

  • How Does Henry David Thoreau Use Rhetorical Devices

    1458 Words  | 6 Pages

    He instills imagery that elicits feelings that may not have already resided in the reader. Quite disturbing by 1840’s standards, his vivid and descriptive language could be from 20th century modernism: “The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies…they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones” By subjecting the audience to the forms of discomfort associated with dehumanization, they may feel like an outside observer of their own thoughts or body, and will realize what is really in control over their thoughts and actions. Readers become be more open to recognize that perhaps not all their decisions are freely willed, especially those related to civil responsibility. The author uses this as an opportunity to delve deeper into the possibilities of free will under nationalism. Thoreau makes the claim that virtuous actions are only made through free choice.

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Techniques in Henry David Thoreau's 'Civil Disobedience'

    1273 Words  | 6 Pages

    Near the beginning of his renowned essay, "Civil Disobedience," Henry David Thoreau appeals to his fellow citizens when he says, "...I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. " This request serves as a starting point from which the rest of "Civil Disobedience" emerges. Thoreau 's essay is particularly compelling because of its incorporation of rhetorical strategies, including the use of logos, ethos, pathos, purposive discourse, rhetorical competence and identification. I will demonstrate how each of these rhetorical techniques benefit Thoreau 's persuasive argument. Thoreau uses logos throughout his essay to strengthen his argument with reasoning.

    Read More

  • Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, Vs. Martin Luther King Jr.

    1102 Words  | 5 Pages

    King urges the pacifist man to view the importance of the demonstration morally. Whereby King states that much of the population "[are] more devoted to "order" than to justice; …[they] prefer a negative peace." Likewise, Thoreau presents a similar argument. He exemplifies that society has turned traditional, and it is up to man to "bend it to his will." He explores the question of "Why has every man a conscience, then?

    Read More

  • Rhetorical Devices Used In Walden

    518 Words  | 3 Pages

    Thoreau also related to the world, imprisoning him when he said: “I found myself suddenly neighbor to the birds; not by having imprisoned one but having caged myself near them”. That makes me think about how Thoreau was given a life to be free or to be caged, just as well as any person does too. You can be the puppet of society and live, how the government tells you to live as or not be the puppet and defy what society has to tell you about life and live as you would want to. A rhetorical device Thoreau used to be logos mixed with pathos to convey the reader to see as he sees such as “live free and uncommitted” that would move a person to think living free is what I want and if it 's uncommitted then I’ll take it in my opinion.

    Read More

  • Thoreau And Civil Disobedience

    1198 Words  | 5 Pages

    What Thoreau means by the Civil Disobedience is that every person should be govern more by his own moral compass that gives him much clearer answer to his deeds, rather than some laws of a government. “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think we should be men first, and subjects afterward.” (1)

    Read More

  • Walden Rhetorical Analysis Essay

    666 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Walden and Resistance to Civil Government, Henry David Thoreau the author, uses the rhetorical strategies of personification, metaphor, and allusion/symbolism in the chapter “Conclusion” to describe what he learned from his experiment of living in Walden Pond. Thoreau’s main message of what he learned is to be undefined by what’s in front. Without the limits of conformity, humans have the capacity to achieve much greater and beautiful dreams and goals. Conformity is the boundary that doesn’t let individuals reach their great potential. Thoreau uses effective personification to imply the significance of following one’s dreams confidently.

    Read More

  • Native Guard By Natasha Trethewey Analysis

    1728 Words  | 7 Pages

    Ants are representative of many things but a main one is cooperation. It makes sense because they work together to help benefit the whole colony and the colony, as a whole, works cohesively as a unit. All of the ants together, represent a strength and unity that can reshape the world itself. This makes for a strong contrast against the narrator. Throughout the poem she doesn’t really do anything besides watching the ants’ work.

    Read More

  • Mark Twain's Essay: The War Prayer

    528 Words  | 3 Pages

    Throughout human history, war has been a common solution to settle conflict or disagreements between people. War has and will always be apart of this world, because no matter how much death it causes humans will never change. Some people have come to see the idiocy in war and have even written about it in poems, short stories, etc. One of these people, Samuel Clemens, better known as Mark Twain, has mocked this absurd and pointless practice. Twain’s essay The War Prayer satirizes the customs of praying for safety and victory in war and for equating war with patriotism.

    Read More

  • Human Nature In George Orwell's Animal Farm

    801 Words  | 4 Pages

    Animal Farm Essay How are allegories relevant when discussing societies issues of human nature? George Orwell’s novel Animal Farm explores this question through the characters in his book. The Novel was based around people and events of the Russian revolution that occurred during 19… and revealing many truths of human nature and existence throughout the novel. George Orwell portrays his characters as animals with human traits and allows readers to infer what he is revealing about human nature through these characters.

    Read More

More about How Does Thoreau Use Allegory In The Battle Of The Ants

Open Document