Close Reading Techniques The Ant and the Grasshopper

Close Reading Techniques

The Ant and the Grasshopper

Character

There are only two characters in the fable

The ant and

The grasshopper

Setting

The fable is set in a field on a summer day. Then later concludes in winter.

Theme/moral

The fable is built on the moral that we are supposed to prepare today for the future needs.

How the details of the fable support the theme

How the fable characterized the two animals brings out the theme of preparation for future necessity. We see that the grasshopper lived a lifestyle of pleasure (hopping chirping and singing to its hearts content) but never bothered about the coming winter. On the other hand, the ant is depicted as futuristic. It toils every summer day knowing that the fruits of its labor will be ripe in winter. The end is that the grasshopper suffers in winter while the ant enjoys.

Keywords

• Annotation of the fable (attached a pdf screenshot)
• I hope the attached pdf image is visible.
• Summary

Toil and moil, necessity, summer, winter, chirping and singing.

The grasshopper enjoys the plenty of summer while the ant on the other hand suffers in its attempt to save for the future. The grasshopper sees no need to save for winter as there is enough at the moment. When winter finally comes, the grasshopper lacks what to eat while the ants have plentiful. The toil of the ant support the moral.

In the fable, the grasshopper lacks what to eat in the winter because it did not prepare for the same. On the other hand, the ant has enough out of its past hard work. The plenty supply of the summer is an important detail as well for it contributed to the lazy lifestyle of the grasshopper. This depicts that the pleasures of the moment can make us not worry of our future survival. However, the character of the ant of hard work is important as it brings out the aspect of grasping the present opportunity for the good of the unforeseen future.

• Explanation

I have highlighted the main points in the fable. Each highlight has been followed by comments. I also put annotations on the new words. Sticky notes also aided me in my annotation. However, due to the length of the fable, I found a difficulty such that each sentence seemed relevant

• Annotation strategy