Comparison and Contrast of Thoreau and Woolf
Both of Henry David Thoreau’s “The Battle of the Ants” and Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” are about life and death, but with different perspectives. Thoreau writes about an exciting battle of ants and uses personification to relate it to the excitement of real human battles, while Woolf takes a different perspective and writes about a moth who has death creep up on it and describes how little the moth is in comparison to the rest of life, but Woolf still has an admiration for the moth and its fight against death and is more emotionally connected. In both writings the ants and moth are fighting against death so that they may live, but the ants are fighting visible opponents that are trying
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He uses diction that describes the ants as if they are warriors on the battlefield fighting for some cause. He uses the term battlefield, which is normally contributed to where two human armies or military forces engage each other and fight for some principle or political reason. He also says, “I have no doubt that it was a principle they fought for…” Thoreau refers to red ants as the “red republicans” and the black ants as the black imperialist. He wondered if they had military bands playing their nations’ songs. He gives the red ants a battle cry: “Conquer or die.” He compares the battle to the battles of Concord and Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War. He believes that the red ants are fighting for independence and liberty from the larger and more powerful black ants, the imperialist. Thoreau is virtually making the ants human by giving them nations, organized armies, bands, battle cries, political sides, and principles. All of these characteristics are of human nature and society, not characteristics belonging to ants. On the other hand the narrator of “The Death of the Moth” thought that it would be unfortunate “…to have only a moth’s part in life…” She then calls the opportunities of the moth pathetic. She thinks this because the moth is so small in comparison to the rest of life and is tiny compared to the power of death. Woolf acknowledges that the moth is …show more content…
Because, human battles are exciting to the narrator and he wants to witness one, so this is as close as he can get. Thoreau uses an excited tone and diction that contributes to show how the narrator thinks war and death are exhilarating. A small red ant, who is fighting the larger black ant, is called a “champion” despite its probable death. “Champion” is an optimistic word for winners and what people normally seek, but in this case, the champion will face an almost certain death. This means that the narrator is glorifying death and battles, because it has honor and is exciting to him. The narrator says, “I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men.” He says that he thinks war between men is exciting and entertaining. This is why he personifies the ants to be human. He describes how the ants were gnawing at the enemies’ legs and how breast plates were ripped away exposing the vital organs and how heads were decapitated from the loser’s body. He is looking from the outside into the battle, so he is not experiencing the hardships. He sees the injuries and death, and he is exhilarated by them, so he describes the injuries in admiration and excitement. Thoreau ends with, “…I had had my feelings excited and harrowed by witnessing the struggle, the ferocity and carnage, of a human battle before my door.” This shows how he viewed the fight against death as
Although Emily Dickinson and Walt Whitman had different styles of writing, they did convey the same attitude and acceptance toward death. Both Dickinson’s “712” and Whitman’s “From “Song of Myself” poems showed death was something natural that had to happen and we need to accept it at a certain point in life. Both wrote poems about it as if it were no big deal, but something peaceful. Both poets used much imagery to convey this message very clear to their audience.
Does someone need to die in order to gain and obtain equality amongst the others? In the novel In Time of the Butterflies, written by Julia Alvarez, the main character and the subordinate character affect the plot of the novel because they develop a strong relationship. Their relationship becomes so strong that they devise a rebellion. Their rebellion had many outcomes whether being possible or negative. They manage to get equality and respect amongst the people of their land, but they sacrifice their lives and others to obtain it.
The Mirabal Sisters, otherwise known as Las Mariposas, made their mark in history due to their efforts in the revolution against the Trujillo regime in the Dominican Republic. Julia Alvarez, a native Dominican herself, wrote In the Time of the Butterflies due to an account told by Dede Mirabal about the lives and tragic fate of her sisters Patria, Minerva, and Maria Teresa. Dede’s three sisters were murdered due to their involvement in the revolution; Dede did not join the revolution, and thus survived to help recount their story. Since the novel’s publication in 1994, In the Time of the Butterflies has impacted various aspects of life, and contemporary culture frequently alludes to facets of the novel. One critic commented that "In the Time of the Butterflies suggests that the Mirabal sisters not only fought against the Trujillo regime, but also against the Dominican Republic’s patriarchal culture and gender roles. They were very
In Thoreau’s nightmare, we witness one of his greatest horrors, war. Along with war, we see those who are divided in it. The powerful and the weak. How it is played out in Thoreau’s nightmare is that those in no power were Emerson’s son, Edward, and Bailey. The two were forced into the war but in two different ways. Bailey was made to participate against his will, he was handed a weapon to use while fighting. Edward was killed from the war with a bullet. This to Thoreau represents unnecessary and preventable deaths. That once again
There are many short stories in literature that share a common theme presented in different ways. A theme that always keeps readers’ attention is that of death because it is something that no one wants to face in real life, but something that can be easily faced when reading. “Harrison Bergeron” by Kurt Vonnegut and “The Lottery” by Shirley Jackson both exemplify how two authors use a common theme of death to stand as a metaphor for dystopian societies.
He uses imagery to show how complicated people make life; how much of life is unnecessary. In turn, it evokes emotional responses from the readers. An example is, “ Hardly a man takes a half-hour’s nap after dinner, but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks, “what’s the news?” as if the rest of man kind had stood his sentinels. Some give directions to be waked every half-hour, doubtless for no other purpose; and then, to pay for it, they tell what they have dreamed. After a night‘s sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. “Pray tell me anything new that has happened to a man anywhere on this globe”-- and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River; never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself.” (page 278). In this part of the text Thoreau explains the life of a man. In the end however, it turns into a sorrowful ending. What Thoreau was trying to say in this part of the text is that people could go experience things themselves instead of listening to stories. Instead of staying home and asking what is happening with the world, you could experience it yourself and that it is unnecessary to hear the stories in the
Insects may be the bane of some people’s existence, but the creatures are truly strong globes of energy, going about their lives, flitting to and fro. Thoreau and Woolf both captured this essential spirit in their writing. In “Battle of the Ants” and “The Death of the Moth,” both writers observe other life forms, but the way in which they perceive the insects struggles vastly differs. According to an online biography, Thoreau’s exposure to transcendentalism as well as his friend and mentor Ralph Waldo Emerson both shaped his writing to emphasize “the importance of empirical thinking and of spiritual matters over the physical world,” whereas Virginia Woolf’s parents raised her to be free thinking which resulted
In literature, themes shape and characterize an author’s writing making each work unique as different points of view are expressed within a writing’s words and sentences. This is the case, for example, of Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “Annabel Lee” and Emily Dickinson’s poem “Because I could not stop for Death.” Both poems focus on the same theme of death, but while Poe’s poem reflects that death is an atrocious event because of the suffering and struggle that it provokes, Dickinson’s poem reflects that death is humane and that it should not be feared as it is inevitable. The two poems have both similarities and differences, and the themes and characteristics of each poem can be explained by the author’s influences and lives.
In order to understand the entirety of a society, we must first understand each part and how it contributes to the stability of the society. According to the functionalist theory, different parts of society are organized to fill discrete needs of each part, which consequently determines the form and shape of society. (Crossman). All of the individual parts of society depend on one another. This is exhibited in “A Bug’s Life” through the distinct roles the ants and grasshoppers play in their own society. The two species are stratified in such a way that they each contribute to the order and productivity of the community. In the movie, the head grasshopper states that “the sun grows the food, the ants pick the food, and the grasshoppers eat the food” (A Bug’s Life). This emphasizes social stability and reliance on one another’s roles. The grasshoppers rely on the ants for food, while the ants rely on the grasshoppers for protection. This effective role allocation and performance is what ensures that together, the ants and grasshoppers form a functioning society to guarantee their survival.
... “The Death of the Moth” makes comparisons about the life and struggles of a delicate insignificant moth to the similar struggles faced by all human life. Although the moth is a very simple. primal form of life, only concerned with breathing and
Emily Dickinson once said, “Dying is a wild night and a new road.” Some people welcome death with open arms while others cower in fear when confronted in the arms of death. Through the use of ambiguity, metaphors, personification and paradoxes Emily Dickinson still gives readers a sense of vagueness on how she feels about dying. Emily Dickinson inventively expresses the nature of death in the poems, “I felt a Funeral, in my Brain (280)”, “I Heard a fly Buzz—When I Died—(465)“ and “Because I could not stop for Death—(712)”.
This opening paragraph is a simple, poetic version of the main theme behind All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. The point of the story is to show that war is not romantic, glorious, or fantastic. In fact, those words could not be further from the truth. War is a disgusting competition of human instinct, fought by the wrong people. It brings out the worst in everyone; it destroys their compassion, honesty, and ideals. The beginning chapters of All Quiet on the Western Front are devoted to showing that warfare hardens soldiers against true emotions. Their main priority is survival, second is comfort, followed by gain.
Death is a prevalent theme in the poetry of both Sylvia Plath and Emily Dickinson. They both examine death from varied angles. There are many similarities as well as differences in the representation of this theme in their poetry. Plath views death as a sinister and intimidating end, while Dickinson depicts death with the endearment of romantic attraction. In the poetry of Plath death is depicted traditionally, while Dickinson attributes some mysticism to the end of life.
The Theme of Death in Poetry Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson are two Modern American Poets who consistently wrote about the theme of death. While there are some comparisons between the two poets, when it comes to death as a theme, their writing styles were quite different. Robert Frost’s poem, “Home Burial,” and Emily Dickinson’s poems, “I felt a Funeral in my Brain,” and “I died for Beauty,” are three poems concerning death. While the theme is constant there are differences as well as similarities between the poets and their poems. The obvious comparison between the three poems is the theme of death.
The use of how nature affects them and their love for nature brings me to that conclusion. So what makes these pieces so powerful? Really, it's not the reasoning between life and death; it's the comparison of how other living things on Earth that we take for granted are similar to us as a human race. When these two poets look at a flower or a sunset, they see more than just a pretty flower or a beautiful sunset; they see what life is made up of, which is wonderful at times and ugly at other times. Like the saying goes, you can't have good without evil.