Comparison and Contrast of Thoreau and Woolf Both Henry David Thoreau’s “The Battle of the Ants” and Virginia Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth” are about life and death, but they approach the topic 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 writes in respect about a moth who has death unexpectedly creep up on it and describes how little the moth is in comparison to the rest of life and how it fights to live. 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 to kill them and the moth is fighting natural death. Thoreau uses personification to show excitement and exhilaration over the battle of the ants and uses diction that describes the ants as if …show more content…
they are warriors on the battlefield fighting for some cause. He uses the term battlefield, which is normally used to describe where two nation’s 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 wonders if they had military bands playing their nations’ songs and he gives the red ants a battle cry: “Conquer or die,” which only human armies have. He compares the ants’ battle to the battles of Concord and Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War, because 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. In contrast, the narrator of “The Death of the Moth” thinks that it would be unfortunate “…to have only a moth’s part in life…” and would never equate the life of a moth to the life of humans. She then calls the opportunities of the moth pathetic, because the moth is so small in comparison to the rest of life and is feeble compared to the power of death. Woolf acknowledges that the moth’s status, power, and strength are small, in comparison to the rest of life, while Thoreau makes the ants into something bigger than they are: soldiers in battle. Despite these different perspectives, both writings prove that no matter how big or strong or powerful or weak one is, one will always eventually fall in defeat to death. The fact that Thoreau makes the ants human, indicates that the narrator really does want them to be human. Human battles are exciting to the narrator and he wants to witness one; therefor, this is as close as he can get. Thoreau uses an excited tone and diction 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 typically used to describe victors, but in this case the, so called, “champion” will face an almost certain death. The narrator is glorifying death and battles, because it is honorable and is exciting to him. The narrator says, “I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men.” The narrator thinks war between men is exciting and entertaining, and this is why he personifies the ants to be human. The battle is described in great detail as if it were a real human battle between men: the ants are gnawing at the enemies’ legs and breast plates are ripped away exposing the vital organs and the heads are decapitated from the bodies of the defeated ants. The narrator is looking from the outside into the battle, so he is not experiencing the hardships personally, but he can only see the injuries and death and 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 an exciting adventure. On the contrary, in Woolf’s “The Death of the Moth,” she shows more sympathy and reverence for the moth as it approaches its undeniable death.
Woolf writes that the moth is flying back and forth on the window sill, but it has become stiff and awkward, so that it cannot fly across. The narrator watches the moth attempt to fly across the window sill seven times, but it always fails. The moth is in a battle against death and it keeps fighting a fight it cannot win against a fated outcome. The fact that the narrator takes the time to watch the moth repeatedly try to fly and fail, shows that the narrator is cheering for it to succeed. The narrator is not watching for the excitement or entertainment of battle like in the “The Battle of the Ants.” The narrator watches it because she admires and respects its will to live and fight honorably against death, because of this the narrator is more emotionally connected. The narrator shows pity for the dying moth and wants to help it by extending a pencil to help the moth right itself, but comes to the realization that this is the approach of death and nothing can be
done. In “The Battle of the Ants” death can be anticipated because of visible threats and injuries in the bellum, but Woolf describes a beautiful pleasant morning and states how the moth “…seemed to be content with life.” She describes how the energy fills him up and he would flutter in front of the window-pane from side to side. The moth shows no signs of death at first, but then death creeps upon it unexpectedly and it finds itself in a duel with death. This shows how death can be unexpected and unpredictable in contrast to the ants’ foreseeable deaths in “The Battle of the Ants.” In both Thoreau’s story and Woolf’s story the narrators seem to have a lapse of time where they forget about either the conflict of the ants or the struggle of the moth. Both narrators become distracted with another task for a little while and later remember the insects and look up to resume their observations. This shows how both onlookers are not involved in the suffering and can escape, but the ants and the moth are facing death and cannot look away from their dire circumstances. Death is at the insect’s door step and they have to do something to resist. They cannot resume their book, they cannot wash the dishes, they cannot chop the wood, and they cannot escape the threat of facing death like the narrators can. The only thing the insects can do is try to fight against death. The ants can fight their enemies and hope that they are victorious without injury and the moth can try to stay strong and keep flying and resist death. In both of these stories death was too strong. In Woolf’s story the moth seems to say, “…death is stronger than I am.” Both of these stories show that sometimes when death is at one’s door step one cannot always be victorious over death, because death is always eventually victorious no matter your status.
The inspiring documentary film, E.O. Wilson—Of Ants and Men, showcases biologist Edward Osborne Wilson’s passion for preserving the biodiversity of our natural world. E.O. Wilson not only values the fascinating creatures (particularly ants) that he comes across during his research and in his daily life, but he also takes action and participates in the Gorongosa Restoration Project at Gorongosa National Park in Mozambique, Africa. The destruction of Gorongosa demonstrates the call for us—Homo sapiens—to realize how critical it is to concern ourselves with protecting the very ecosystems that have molded us into the complex species that we are; according to E.O. Wilson, “We adapted over millions of years to wild environments…We really need them” (CITE?). The better effort we make to understand that we are a part of this large, interdependent ecological community, the better equipped we become in not only being
Harton, Ron. "Henry Thoreau as a Model for Nature Writing." 9 August 2009. The Thoreau Reader. Online Document. 17 March 2014. .
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
While staying at Mel’s home, the adolescent female narrator personifies the butterfly paperweight. The life cycle begins with the narrator “hearing” the butterfly sounds, and believing the butterfly is alive. The butterfly mirrors the narrator’s feelings of alienation and immobility amongst her ‘new family’ in America. She is convinced the butterfly is alive, although trapped inside thick glass (le 25). The thick glass mirrors the image of clear, still water. To the adolescent girl, the thick glass doesn’t stop the sounds of the butterfly from coming through; however, her father counteracts this with the idea of death, “…can’t do much for a dead butterfly” (le 31). In order to free the butterfly, the narrator throws the disk at a cabinet of glass animals, shattering the paperweight, as well as the glass animals. The shattering of the glass connects to the shattering of her being, and her experience in fragility. The idea of bringing the butterfly back to life was useless, as the motionless butterfly laid there “like someone expert at holding his breath or playing dead” (le 34). This sense of rebirth becomes ironic as the butterfly did not come back to life as either being reborn or as the manifestation of a ghostly spirit; instead its cyclic existence permeates through the narrator creating a transformative
Both Virginia Woolf and Annie Dillard are extremely gifted writers. Virginia Woolf in 1942 wrote an essay called The Death of the Moth. Annie Dillard later on in 1976 wrote an essay that was similar in the name called The Death of a Moth and even had similar context. The two authors wrote powerful texts expressing their perspectives on the topic of life and death. They both had similar techniques but used them to develop completely different views. Each of the two authors incorporate in their text a unique way of adding their personal experience in their essay as they describe a specific occasion, time, and memory of their lives. Woolf’s personal experience begins with “it was a pleasant morning, mid-September, mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than that of the summer months” (Woolf, 1). Annie Dillard personal experience begins with “two summers ago, I was camping alone in the blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia” (Dillard, 1). Including personal experience allowed Virginia Woolf to give her own enjoyable, fulfilling and understandable perception of life and death. Likewise, Annie Dillard used the personal narrative to focus on life but specifically on the life of death. To explore the power of life and death Virginia Woolf uses literary tools such as metaphors and imagery, along with a specific style and structure of writing in a conversational way to create an emotional tone and connect with her reader the value of life, but ultimately accepting death through the relationship of a moth and a human. While Annie Dillard on the other hand uses the same exact literary tools along with a specific style and similar structure to create a completely different perspective on just death, expressing that death is how it comes. ...
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.
The relationship between life and death is explored in Woolf’s piece, “The Death of a Moth.” Woolf’s own epiphany is presented in her piece; she invites her reader, through her stylistic devices, to experience the way in which she realized what the meaning of life and death meant to her. Woolf’s techniques allow her audience to further their own understanding of death and encourages them consider their own existence.
Woolf’s writing in “The Death of the Moth” is focused on the essence of vitality describing the moth as, “a tiny bead of pure life and decking it as lightly as possible with down feathers, had set it dancing and sig-zagging to show us the true nature of life,” whereas Thoreau’s writing in “The Battle of the Ants” focuses on the exhilaration of the conflict that slowly tappers off as the red ant “with feeble struggles, being without feelers and with only the remnant of a leg… after half an hour or more, he...” “…divest himself of…” the black
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.
She describes the September morning as “mild, benignant, yet with a keener breath than the summer months.” She then goes on to describe the field outside her window, using word choice that is quite the opposite of words that would be used to describe a depressing story. She depicts the exact opposite of death, and creates a feeling of joy, happiness, and life to the world outside her room. After this, she goes into great detail about the “festivities” of the rooks among the treetops, and how they “soared round the treetops until it looked as if a vast net with thousands of black knots in it had been cast up into the air”. There is so much going on around her that “it was difficult to keep the eyes strictly turned upon the book.” Descriptions like these are no way to describe a seemingly depressing story about a moth, but by using these, joyful descriptions, Woolf connects everything happening outside to a single strand of energy. These images set a lively tone for the world around her, and now allow her to further introduce the moth into the story.
Death is often displayed in literature, showing how people would react towards it. Whether it's in "The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin, "The Masque of the Red Death" by Edgar Allan Poe, "The Lottery" by Shirley Jackson, or even "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield, death appears to be unavoidable. Although these are different short stories, death is applied, but the author's interpretations differentiate.
The MOTH has a variety of stories to tell from comedy to drama, short or long, with an inspirational message or just a story to make you laugh. The stories have vivid details so
Subsequently, the spider, “holding up a moth” draws out the evil or cruelty, which is nature. Frost accents this in the subsequent verse, “Like a white piece of rigid satin cloth” (Frost, 593). His play on words here is prodigious, “a white piece of satin cloth” (Frost, 593) this stanza demonstrates ...
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.