Most people understand the concept of armed
conflict that is war,. Upon first glance, Henry David Thoreau’s “The Battle of
the Ants” seems like a basic story of a battle between two different kinds of
ants, one black and one red, but if someone were to further analyse the text,
they could see that Thoreau uses the ants and their battle as a symbol for
human conflict.. “The Battle of the Ants” begins with Thoreau walking out
to his wood logs as he discovers a battle between the black ants and the red ants.
After this, he juxaposes these ants to humans, making the comparison clear from
the start. “It was the only battle which I have ever witnessed… On every side
they were engaged in deadly combat, yet without any noise that I could hear,
and human soldiers never fought so resolutely” (575). Thoreau also uses
hyperbole early in his essay to stregthen its anti-war theme as he describes
the fighting ants to be in the middle of war. However, he infers that this war
is miniscule by reminding the reader of its setting: a wood-yard. Although
the battle of the ants is small, the metaphor of the ant fight to the art of
war in humans is still effective. We picture a group of ants fighting over food
pointless, as Thoreau wants humans to see war as, pointless. Thoreau is saying
that the battle of the ants’ significance and the significance of any war is
the same, and will have the same outcome, just mere violence Thoreau goes on to
describe an even smaller battle he witnesses between two kinds of ants, again,
amid the chips, giving more scope to the idea that war is irrelevant compared
to the broader schemes of the world. “I watched a couple that were fast locked
in each other’s embraces, in a little sunny valley amid the chips, now at
noonday prepared to fight till the sun went down, or life went out… They fought
with more pertinacity than bulldogs” (575).
Nice post.
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