The Large Ant Quote Analysis

Analytic Essay – The Large Ant In 2011 Police reported 598 homicides alone in Canada. This was also 44 more than the previous year. Many human beings tend to assault or murder on a daily basis, but why would human beings do such a thing? Human beings are scared. Human beings instinctively attack on certain situations. It is natural to act in such a way despite it being a crime; they will attack if in danger. Human beings will do what we can do survive, if human beings did not react in such a way, nobody would be killed. When faced with danger we don’t think we react. For example, if a spider is on your celling or an ant crawling on your kitchen floor, somehow human beings find themselves killing them instinctively, without thinking. Although,

‘We know why he killed it…The answer is very simple, Mr. Morgan. You killed it because you are a human being.’” (Fast 154) Fitzgerald, one of the characters from The Large Ant, clearly states that there is no given reason that Morgan, the narrator, killed the creature because he was human. This would imply that human beings have something with in them that make humans to act in this manner. Morgan later states “‘I saw it,’ I answered slowly, ‘and somehow I knew that I must kill it. I didn’t think or decide. I just grabbed the iron and hit it.’” (Fast 155) The narrator even claims to be oblivious to his actions even though he killed the creature. The narrator had subconsciously reacted in the moment, such as a human is to breathing, you do not think about breathing. It is a subconscious action, as was his decision to kill the creature. Basic human instincts invoked the murder of the

I still am, to tell the truth.’” (Fast 155) This statement justifies his actions. Morgan was terrified of the unusual creature thus causing its death. Human beings often only can react this way when faced with an unusual event. Human beings are scared and only can do so much. Instinctively when scared human beings will attack and take a defensive stand. “All three men were watching me, and suddenly I was on the defensive ‘I didn’t know! What do you expect when you see an insect that size?’” (Fast 155) This is something that is not taught, but developed as violence is a part of human life. Lieberman, one of the scientists, adds a very good point “’Can you imagine a mentality to which the concept of murder is impossible—or let me say absent. We see everything through our own subjectivity. Why shouldn’t some other --this creature, for example –see the process of mentation out of his subjectivity. So he approaches a creature of our world –and he is slain. Why?’” (Fast 157) Without the concept of murder, the functionality of life becomes deceased. Therefore life goes hand in hand with death. They work in conjunction to keep balance on earth. That creature could have murdered him as quickly as he murdered the creature, he wouldn’t have known that whether or not he had not killed it. Morgan’s actions are justified because he was scared of the