Battle of the ants Essays - Civil Disobedience,

same time, however, Thoreau also personifies the ants by comparing them to humans, and their battles to the battles of the ancient Greeks and Trojans. By making what is such a seemingly ridiculous comparison Thoreau shows the true disdain he has for human wars. Thoreau describes in great detail how at one point, to more closely study the battle, he takes a woodchip that held three of the ant combatants. At the end only the larger black ant was alive, having vanquished his two smaller foes, "Whether he finally survived that combat, and spent the remainder of his days in some Hotel des Invalides, I do not know: but I thought that his industry would not be worth much thereafter. I never learned which party was victorious, nor the cause of the war." p.758 This shows Thoreau's view that war never has a true winner, the loser is killed and the victor walks away limping and half dead himself.