Walden
WaldenThe Battle of Stump-ton
In the book, “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, there a section devoted to the battle of ants. Thoreau’s subsequent narrative of the battle is very detailed and peppered with historical allusions. These allusions make the reader become “fired up” over the subject of war and patriotism. About seventy-five percent of this essay was about patriotism, heroism, and courage. After reading the essay, one gets the impression that Thoreau is making a mockery of humans in general. and heroes to the lowly, dung eating ants. At numerous times does he mention man-kinds greatest wars and heroes and than mentions the fierceness of the ants. One can conclude that Thoreau does not think too highly of humans on a whole.
The first allusions of human battles and people is to the Trojan War. Thoreau makes many references to this great struggle which has popped up many a philosophical debates. “The legions of these Myrmidons covered all the hills and vales in my wood yard, and the ground was already strewn with the dead and dying, both red and black.” This is the first reference to the Trojans and their war. The Myrmidons were the people of ancient Thessaly who followed their king, Achilles, to the Trojan War. “Or perchance he was some Achilles, who had nourished his wrath apart, and had now come to avenge or rescue his Patroclus.” This statement was in reference to a little red ant, who either dispatched his last foe without a scratch or had come green from the home-front. Either way, the little red ant was described as being full of excitement and ready to fight.
There are many other references to battles in this essay. “And certainly there is not the fight recorded in Concord history, at least, if in the history of America, that will bear a moment’s comparison with this, whether for the numbers engaged in it, or for the patriotism and heroism displayed” These words are famous
At first Thoreau describes the battle between the ants as a whole, than he gets more and more specific until he takes a wood chip and takes it into his house to observe it more. During this observations he records the feeble struggles of the red ants who are finally overwhelmed by the much larger black ant. Even though the large ant won the battle, he suffered terrible losses. It is not known whether or not the ant survived the battle, but is left up to the readers imagination. This section of the story describes human wars and battles that...
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