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I. ?The Ant and the Grasshopper?

by Somerset Maugham, the narrator (I, in the story) told us the fable ?The Ant and the Grasshopper? that he has heard when he was a child. Then he links this fable with the story of his friend, George Ramsay and his only younger brother, Tom Ramsay. In the fable, the Grasshopper who spent the warm months singing away while the ant worked to store up food for winter. When the winter did come, the famished grasshopper had to beg for food from the ant, who told the grasshopper that since he sang away the summer, he could dance away the winter. In contrast, George who has been hardworking get nothing, only left with a paltry pension to show for his lifetime commitment and industriousness. While his idle brother get everything his old wife had as she leaves him a massive fortune at her death. The main theme of this short story is to compare and contrast the story to the fable and explain the reason behind the differences. ?It is the best to prepare for the days of necessity? in the fable and ?It?s the best to do what you feel like to right now? in the story. The main irony is that in the end Tom, an idle, worthless, dissolute, and dishonourable rogue gets everything his old wife had after she died. While his older brother, who had been hardworking, decent, respectable, and straightforward gentleman gets nothing besides continue working so. The main irony clearly illustrates the main theme to readers. It gives readers clearer image of the main theme by telling the story concerning industrious and idle way of life and the different result of it. The narrator links the fable and the story of his friend with an irony way to make readers see the theme concretely. In my opinion, it can infer that life is not fair and that anything can happen. We should both prepare for the days of necessity and do what we feel like to right now in a balance way. If we don?t prepare earlier we would suffer in the end, and if we don?t do what we feel like to do right now we would regret when it is time that we couldn?t do it anymore or when it is too late to do so. II. There are some beliefs that everyone gets in their whole life, what they deserve, and it is based upon common sense. However, there are exceptions for each rule or statement in the existence. One of these exceptions is described in the fable called The Ant and the Grasshopper which is about George and Tom s experiences. In this case, the ant is George and the grasshopper is Tom. One of them, George, chose the part of being a responsible and sensitive person. It is he who has been working a lot for getting a special retirement for the end of his life. Moreover, he has been helping his brother in all his whims. He is a role model for everyone. On the other hand, Tom is this kind of person who decides to live his life in order to satisfy his own wishes. He is a very nice and charming person, but he is constantly cheating on his brother and all his friends. Moreover, he has a lot of faults and he is always looking for luxuries.

For twenty years Tom raced and gambled, philandered with the prettiest girls, danced, ate in the most expensive restaurants, and dressed beautifully. He always looked as if he had just stepped out of a bandbox. Though he was forty-six you would never have taken him for more than thirty-five . It might be safely said that the villain of this story is Tom, the bad man, the person who has got everything that he desires by taking the easy way. And according to the fable he deserves a bad end or at least any that is not good enough. Nonetheless, this is not a classical story with a traditional ending. The end of it is really funny. It may be said that the writer wanted to emphasize the fact that Tom had achieved everything and it was out of the blue. In addition, it might be pointed out that the writer is criticizing the coherence between George s principles and the way he acted when his brother obtained the fortune. He showed jealous.

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