Walden

The thesis of "The Battle of the Ants" in Walden is the futility and pointlessness of war. Thoreau uses the metaphor of ants fighting to satirize human warfare, suggesting that just as the ants'...

In Walden, the ants symbolize the brutality of war. Thoreau discovers two groups of ants that are fighting with one another, and it is unclear what started the battle. Observing the fray through a...