W Somerset Maugham's The Ant and the Grasshopper

A Different Take on Aesop's Fable About Hard Work & Laziness

Nov 4, 2009 Lucille Lever

Does one always get one's just rewards? Are good acts compensated with a prize, and punishment meted out for bad deeds? Maugham tells us an interesting tale.

The story illustrates that, as unfair as it may seem, hard work, anguish or even martyrdom do not necessarily result in positive gain just as lightheartedness or ease do not mean that pain and unhappiness are deserved.

Aesop’s Version of the Ant and the Grasshopper

Aesop’s story tells of a hardworking ant that works his whole life in order to save for his old age. The grasshopper, an easy-going creature spends his life, laid-back, with a philosophy that life is what it is, and optimistically thinking that everything will be fine without any effort. At the end of the story the two characters meet and find the expected results; that the ant has resources saved that help him in his old age, while the grasshopper ends up miserable and lonely.

Alternative Thoughts on Life Philosophy

Maugham presents his moral tale and leads the reader into a philosophical alternative. Man does not always get his just reward. Those who stand and wait may never reach the front of the line. Good and evil, reward and punishment, are not connected logically or fairly. Life hands out its shares at random to whoever walks by at a particular moment receiving either a blow or a prize, depending on Fate’s arbitrary decision to perform at that time and place.

W. Somerset Maugham’s short story is about two people, with characteristics similar to those of a grasshopper and an ant. It tells of two men, one of whom takes life easy, enjoying all the good it offers. This man, referred to as the grasshopper, never saves anything for a rainy day or even considers the future. He gambles with whatever he has and delights in luxury. The second man, the busy ant-like character, concerns himself with the difficulties of life, works hard, takes no pleasure, worries about the world and his family and in turn gains very little happiness from life.

Expectations of Readers From Moral Fables

The reader expects that when the two men come face to face with each other many years later, the “grasshopper” will be found suffering from his past sins while the “ant” deservedly, lives in luxury. But Maugham shocks us by describing that the grasshopper, now an elderly round and happy man dressed in luxurious clothes, still enjoys life, while the ant is thin and bedraggled from the austere, worry-filled life he has lived.

The moral therefore is that while it is important to strive for goodness and fairness, understanding, honesty and humility in the hope of achieving success, these things may not necessarily be granted us. In most cases, the consequences of one’sbad actions are followed by punishment and the good deeds by reward, but it is not always the outcome. Whether it is luck or fate, or the nature of life itself, each individual will receive both the wanted and unwanted cards randomly from the pack despite all the efforts to keep bad things at a distance, and good things close by.

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The Ant and the Grasshopper