Ch. 41: Once in camp I put a log on top of the fire and it was full of ants. As it commenced to burn, the ants swarmed out and went first toward the centre where the fire was; then turned back and ran toward the end. When there were enough on the end they fell off into the fire. Some got out, their bodies burnt and flattened, and went off not knowing where they were going. But most of them went toward the fire and then back toward the end and swarmed on the cool end and finally fell off into the fire. I remember thinking at the time that it was the end of the world and a splendid chance to be a messiah and lift the log off the fire and throw it out where the ants could get off onto the ground. But I did not do anything but throw a tin cup of water on the log, so that I would have the cup empty to put whiskey in before I added water to it. I think the cup of water on the burning log only steamed the ants.
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I liken the burning log full of ants to the soldiers suddenly thrown into battle. The center of the fire where the ants first swarm to is like the battlefield for man. They commence fighting and afterwards those left standing swarm to the cool end, away from the fire and fighting. None of them make it out unharmed. Some of them are burnt and blackened while others fall straight into the fire. This translates to no soldier can make it out of war unharmed. The ones that can make it out alive have lost their brothers and do not know where to go. Just like the ants, they are lost.
I agree completely with how William interpreted this passage. Hemingway's illustration is very creative and the ants to soldiers simile is almost disturbing. From an outsiders viewpoint the ants look very idiotic for the ants to be running towards the center of the log and then back to the edge. In war, men run to the front lines of a battle which from a distance is perceived as incompetence and stupidity. For the ants, Hemingway describes Henry as their messiah but in war there is no messiah to bring an end to the pain and suffering.
With this passage Hemingway gives a direct response on how he feels about war. I think Hemingway is trying to say there is no order in war. The ants representing incompetent soldiers trying to escape but find that they cannot, therefore they meet their end. There is no way to escape war no matter how hard you try. As the ants on the stick of wood start to realize they cannot escape it but prolong the pain,they try their best before the fire reaches them. I think it relates to what the Italians are doing in the war. They are just prolonging the war till they meet their end, while thousands of soldiers meet their end.
I believe that this passage shows us that death happens no matter how hard you try to avoid it. No matter where the ants went they would eventuality die. I agree with what William said that this shows us Hemingway’s view about the war. No man comes out unharmed. They may not be hurt physically, but they do have the horrific memories from the experience of fighting. War is hell and people don’t understand it unless they experience it. You are permanently scarred for the rest of your life with the memories and injuries you had. You may try to forget it but you can’t.
Hemingway is giving another opinion of war. The ants are used to symbolize soldiers. The are running around chaotically. I think it is significant that he uses a small insect to symbolize soldiers and fire to symbolize war. The fire is so much bugger than an ant, just as war is bigger than human life. This shows that war will affect everyone involved in it. You may not be killed but you will have scars and be damaged. I also think it is important that Frederic put the log in the fire, realizes he could help, but decided not to. This shows that many people in the world do things that harm others, but don't take full responsibility and help them get out of trouble.
In this passage, one clearly sees Hemingway's standpoint on the war, as Austin stated. The fire symbolizes battle, and the ants symbolize soldiers. Soldiers are suddenly thrown into battle with no way to avoid the obvious painful end: death. I agree with Gillie's statement that one cannot avoid death, no matter how hard he tries. Just as the ants did. They tried everything they could to escape the fire and the burning log, but in the end they all died. A soldier may return home physically harmed, but it is guaranteed that he will return emotionally scarred. Hemingway hates the war with a passion and realized from personal experience that it changes whomever it comes in direct or even indirect contact with. The picture given directly relates to the ants on the log given in the passage.
The ants are compared to soldiers in this passage. The burning log that they called home is similar to a battlefield. There is no where to escape the horrors of war similar to the way they are helpless on the log. Many of the ants died or were burned and only a few were unharmed and some even made it out fine but they all lost somebody or experienced the horror of death. No soldier is without loss and cannot escape the horrors of the battlefield. It can also be related to hell and how a battlefield is an actual hell on earth. Frederic in this scene is symbolic of the leader of countries that start wars. They have the power to call a truce and end the suffering but never do and leave the soldiers to continue to suffer. The overall passage is about Hemingway's view of war and how the pointless loss of human life is similar to throwing ants in a fire.
I like and agree with how my classmates have interpreted this passage and likened it to soldiers. But, I see this passage more as a way to show how war changes people. I can hardly speak for this topic for I haven’t been through it, but I do know that war takes affection out of people’s hearts and leaves them cold. It takes away that loving spark that so many soldiers carried with them before entering war. Hemmingway’s passage clearly depicts a soldier’s mindset during a war—sympathy drained and the indifference towards death from seeing it so frequently. He could have removed the log or not have chosen one with ants on it, but instead he empties his cup for whiskey. That action only intensifies the idea of the indifference towards death during war.
I agree with William on this passage. The ants symbolize the soldiers in battle. Some men are bold and courageous and go right toward the enemy, while others panic and try to stay alive. This passage really reflects the saying "it's not always greener on the other side of the hill." War is dangerous and unpredictable. Even the ants that managed to get out of the fire were either burnt or flattened. This seems to reflect Frederic; he managed to escape from battle, but with a very serious wound. Also it mentions that the ants didn't know where they were going. After the death of his beloved wife and his child, Frederic doesn't really know where he's going. He walks out into the rain; unsure, lost, and heartbroken. Like Meredith said, it's also very important to note that Frederic doesn't pick up the log. It doesn't seem like the Frederic that the reader has come to understand. The Frederic that did the right thing and was trustworthy.
I think that the ants on the log symbolize the soldiers in the war. I think that it symbolizes how soldiers rush to war, thinking only of the glorious side of it with medals and victory, but soon realize that they’ve just walked into a fire-y death trap. Like the ants, once they realize what they are heading into, they try to flee. It’s no use because you can’t escape the war, and you can’t hide on the cool end of the log forever. Death is inevitable. I think that’s Frederic decided not to lift the log out of the fire and save all the ants. He knew that if they didn’t die then in the fire, they’d just be stepped on or eaten later.
Like many other classmates have pointed out, the events that occur on the log set up an allegory for war. The ants were soldiers and their deaths were all related to the fire, the battle. Those who swarmed to the middle were met with the danger of the fire, and those who went to the end were also met by the danger of fire. Just as most ants couldn't escape the fire unless the fire was extinguished or the log was lifted, soldiers in war can't escape battle until the war ceases. Fire was the cause of death as is battle in war. Those who survived were burned or flattened, changed permanently in fire as is every soldier in war. Henry's likening of himself to the Messiah is interesting, for it introduces a situation in which the Messiah either chooses not to lift the log and save the ants or doesn't exist to save the ants. Both options are unknown to the ants, preoccupied with the tiny matters of their lives and the fire surrounding them. To liken himself to the Messiah and then to not interfere is something very clear for Henry to do n the middle of the war, as most soldiers turn to the prospect of a deity or some other unknown variable to help them survive and to cope with the trauma of war. Just as this deity or uncertainty never becomes certain or interferes, Henry chooses not to interfere with the ants, and to let them burn. In doing so he recognizes the distinct unlikeliness of divine intervention. Hemingway again uses polysyndeton to keep ideas moving and sentences flowing.
Pride Snow
I agree with the way Austin Menard interpreted this passage, there is no order to war. Although it is obviously more organized than the ants on the log, it is a very confusing time of panic by everyone. I also think that this passage is another way that Hemingway describes death as inescapable. No matter what these doomed ants do, they will all die in the fire. The same goes for the Italian soldiers. They can fight as hard as they would like, but at the end of the day, most will die.
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