The Ant And The Grasshopper Somerset Maugham Summary

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The text under analysis is titled “The ant and the grasshopper” written by Somerset Maugham, who was a British playwright, novelist and short story writer. He was among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly the highest paid author during the 1930s. The extract is centered around the story of 2 brothers who has rather different lifestyles. Te author touches upon their relationships and makes connection between these brothers and the ant and the grasshopper. The story can be divided into the following parts: exposition starts with the prehistory of the narrator, he tells us about his childhood and recalls the fable that was carefully explained to him “The ant and the grasshopper”, it’s an inner story and it’s similar to the story of Tom and George. The complication starts with the meeting of the narrator and George Ramsay. To underline how disappointed Tom was the author uses the epithet “deep gloom”. After a short dialogue between them we understand that the narrator knows George and his family pretty well. And here the climax starts, the family of Ramsay is quiet famous in their area, they are rich and honorable. The two main characters are members of this family and of course every family has a “black sheep”, in this situation it’s Tom Ramsay, the author uses this metaphor to show how different he is. All other Ramsay tried to live decently, to get steady income, have a nice family and live slowly. Tom Ramsay was like that too, but then he decided that he’s not suitable not only for marriage, but also for a useful and honorable…show more content…
During the whole story the author makes connections between the story about two brothers and the fable “The ant and the grasshopper”, Tom is referred to as the grasshopper, never saves anything for the future. He gambles with whatever he has and delights in luxury. George the busy ant-like character, concerns himself with the difficulties of
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