Essay on The Large Ant

Words: 1098
Pages: 5

Analytical Essay – The Large Ant

In 2012, 16259 people in the United States were murdered and another 1.8 million people were sent to the hospital due to assault. Humans resorting to violence and harming others is a daily occurrence, but why? Is it in our nature, are we instinctively violent, and why is it that these acts are not only happening in the United States but worldwide. Although the average person does not leave their home planning on harming somebody that day, under the right circumstances almost every single person in this world will commit an act of violence. Sometimes these acts are justified, such as when we are trying to protect ourselves or a loved one, but what about the smaller acts that we all do every day.
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Weapons and violence have become such a big part of the world today that we are constantly surrounded by it. “‘Look at yourself, Mr. Morgan – a cultured and intelligent man, yet you cannot conceive of a mentality that does not include weapons as a prime necessity. Yet a weapon is an unusual thing, Mr. Morgan. An instrument of murder. We don’t think that way because the weapon has become the symbol of the world we inhabit.’” (Fast 157) Lieberman states it perfectly in that we have made weapons a major symbol in the world. This can be said to be due to our instincts to resort to violence. Going back to as far as we can trace the weapon has been a key part in every society. The civilizations with the most powerful weapons and armies controlled the world. It has come to a point where we feel we need to constantly protect ourselves and we assume there is going to be a threat. “‘Why didn’t it use one of those weapons on me?’…‘Perhaps none of these are weapons.’ Lieberman added.” (Fast 156) We assume things we do not know or understand are a threat to use just like the narrator assumed the creature’s tools were weapons and that the creature itself was a threat to him, which is why we instinctively go on the defensive and resort to violence without giving it a second thought. Why did the narrator and eight other people all kill these giant ants without any provocation and without