Major Themes and Moral Lessons of a Fable - Essay Example

?Fable Module Module ID: The fables, maxims, idioms and phrases apparently look very simple and related to some specific community of animals, birds or insects only, which have no special concern with humans. However, all these fables and tales have come into existence and have been being transferred from one generation to the other for centuries because of their validity and imperative significance in the individual and collective life of the human beings. The same is applied to the fable under investigation, which maintains several themes and moral lessons as well, which include significance of time, dignity of hard work, importance of savings, acculturation, adaptation, and curses of begging etc, which have been elaborated in the present research paper. The Paper The parable of ants and grasshopper can be studied keeping in view the nature-nurture debate. The supporters of nature theory argue that the human traits and characteristics are innate ones, which are unable to bring or introduce profound alterations in their attitude and behavior. On the other hand, nurture theory views every human action as the product of learning process, where man learns everything from his social environment, and exercises the same he witnesses taking place within his social establishment. Some of these cultural traits appear to be disgusting ones to his personal, religious or moral values, which appear to be vehemently compulsive ones, and take time in adapting oneself according to the prevailing social norms and traditions. Somehow, an over whelming majority of the population adopts the same sooner or later. The same is applied to ants and grasshopper, where the former are by nature inclined to hard work and food preservation, while the latter is accustomed to merry making and getting involved into recreational activities. Eminent 19th century Swiss biologist theorist Lombroso, on the basis of his research on prisoners, claims that the criminals and offenders share almost the same physical traits, including shape of the skull, eyes, jaws and bones of the offenders (Vedder et al., 1976), which distinguish them from the normal, peace-loving and non-delinquent individuals. On the other hand, renowned 20th century anthropologist Margaret Mead submits to state that humans are naturally good, but the evil existing in their atmosphere spoils the humans (Buss, 2010). Although both the theories are applied in the fable under study, yet the nature theory looks more accurate and effective, where the grasshopper has not learnt labor and toil from the ants, and he wasted his summer in singing the songs. Consequently, he has nothing to eat in the winter season. The fable can also be examined within the ascribed and achieved perspectives. Theorists are of the opinion that some of the traits are ascribed ones, which are hard to be changed. For instance, ants always find their ancestors, parents and community members busy at preserving the food, which reveals their selfish and avaricious nature. In addition, their absolute refusal to comply with the requests made by the grasshopper also proves them self-centered, mean and miser creature. Hence, ants do not have any bounded consciousness, which are not ready to make any compromise by offering even few grains to the poor grasshopper. On the contrary, the grasshopper appears to be a jovial, easy-going and contended creature, which does not believe in preserving and concealing the amount of food for one single community. It is right that she has spent the entire summer in singing songs, yet she performed the same for the personal gratification on the one hand, and for the amusement of the fellow creatures on the other. Since grasshopper has ascribed her talent of singing by birth, he has no concern with the number of beneficiaries getting entertained with her melodious sound. On the other hand, the process of food preserving is achieved one, which requires struggle from dawn to dusk for the successful launching of the same. Consequently, the grasshopper is the embodiment of congeniality and affection, which is as free as fresh breeze from the worries of life; while ants maintain grave concern with their future, and their apprehensions about their future days have turned them selfish, which have least care for the emancipation of grasshopper from the state of hunger and starvation. However, Marxism sonorously argues that the distribution of wealth and resources is not dependent of the struggles humans made. The doctrine submits to state that the producer or owner works far lesser than the laborers and workers, but takes the lion’s share in the production and profit an industrial unit generates. The proletariats spend several hours a day at the work place, and make investment of their time, energies and talent for the profit generation of their organization. Nevertheless, they are unable to feed and clothe their family in an adequate manner because of the scarcity of wealth and resources they obtain from their work place. Thus, mere working hard does not bring happiness and prosperity; rather, allocation of time and energies towards right direction makes the work fruitful (Ritzer, 2001). Another debatable aspect of given fable includes the accurate and advantageous application of the wisdom, knowledge, talent and foresight the creatures have been gifted with by the Creator. The Lord has blessed every individual and creature with one quality or the other; it is now the duty of the people to take advantage of their gifted abilities of head and heart. The same could be witnessed by examining the life and struggle of both the communities i.e. the ants and grasshopper. The ants are well acquainted with the fun and art of collecting grains from different sources by making joint efforts in order to ensure their comfortable life during the winter season, which does not allow them to go out of their residences in search of food. Hence, they are in a position to enjoy with the changes the four seasons offer to the creatures. Contrarily, the grasshopper has never acknowledged her innate proficiency and taste for singing; it is therefore she is unable to make friends or enter into relationship with other creatures, including the ants, through singing songs. The ants and grasshopper can be compared to the developed and developing nations respectively, where the developed nations including the USA and European countries, used to gather raw material from the Asian and African soils, and sold the same as finished goods by applying their technical skills and methodologies in order to obtain high profit out of the same. Somehow, the poor, unskilled and uneducated African and Asian nations have not learnt to utilize their wealth and resources for their personal and collective gains. It is therefore they have been lagging far behind in the race of progress, prosperity and developments than their European counterparts for the last several centuries. The story of ants and grasshopper also reflects the globalization process has been in vogue for the last three decades in all parts of the world. One product being prepared, finished or cultivated in one part of the globe can be transferred, consumed and preserved to the remote areas and yonder lands even. Since the nations well equipped with the latest communications and navigations technologies and instruments have obtained advantage over the poor, unskilled and downtrodden nations, they do not combat with the challenges changing life offers the humans. Distinguished entrepreneur Bill Gates declares gathering of fast and exact flow information and knowledge as the source of success and triumph in every situation of life (1995:2). The rich and powerful stratum not only deprives the poor ones of the opportunities and resources, but also remains engaged in such measures that could confine the resources and wealth to one specific community, race, ethnicity, region and nation only. The same could be observed by looking into the prejudiced behavior of the white majority against the African Americans, where the blacks did not have the right to vote even; additionally, the blacks could not enjoy the privileges at public places preserved for the whites. However, the Blacks also exercise the same prejudiced behavior whenever the get the opportunity for the same; their getting involved into chaos in the London riots of August 2011 are the most recent example of ethno-racial hatred for the white population. The same is the case with the Hindus, Jews, Christians, Muslims and other religious and ethnic group, which propagate human rights and peace where they are in minority, but violate all decorum of peace and stability wherever they find themselves in power and majority at large. Thus, the apparently simple fable reveal many aspects of political, social, economic and ethno-racial life of the people belonging to the divergent regions of the globe. The story also narrates the nature, level, magnitude and scope of interaction man enters into the members of his in-group and out-groups at large; as the ants appeared to be interacting in quite a cordial manner for the achievement of common goal. Somehow, they treat the grasshopper in such a humiliating way as the IMF, World Bank and other international organization treat the third world countries in an insulting and disgusting manner. Bibliography Buss, David M. (2010) Human Nature and Culture: An Evolutionary Psychological Perspective The Handbook of Evolutionary Psychology Retrieved from http://homepage.psy.utexas.edu/homepage/group/busslab/pdffiles/Human%20Nature%20and%20Culture.pdf Gates, Bill (1999) Business at the Speed of Thought: Using a Digital Nervous System Grand Central Publishing Ritzer, George. (2007) Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots: The Basics. 3rd editions St. Louis: McGraw-Hill Vedder, Clyde B., Koenig, Samuel & Clark, Robert E. (1976) Criminology (Holt, Rinehart & Winston New York Read More