Leiningen Versus The Ants Essay, Research Paper

Leiningen Versus the Ants

Do you fear nature? In the story, Leiningen Versus the Ants by Carl Stephenson, Leiningen had no fear over nature. The author, Carl Stephenson, uses characterization, foreshadowing, and Flashback to prove that people underestimate nature.

Carl Stephenson uses first-class characterization to show Leiningen is a not frightened by nature and how he is a dynamic character. It is clearly demonstrated that he is not scared of nature when Leiningen says, The human brain needs only to become fully aware of its powers to conquer even the elements. What he is trying to say is that all I need is intelligence to surmount nature. Leiningen is a dynamic character and Carl Stephenson does a mediocre job on making him change. At the beginning of the story the narrator says, Act of God, my eye! Anyway, I m not going to run for it just because an elemental s on the way. Establishing a character that is not scared of nature. And at the end the story Leiningen destroys his plantation for the worker and his life, making Leiningen understand the fear of nature and constructing the theme.

Foreshadowing plays a great deal in this story. Carl Stephenson used this writing technique to make the story more exciting for the average reader. He gave you little clues on what is going to happen but he did not give up the resolution. The old man says, You don t know them! telling Leiningen that he is underestimating the ants. Also when everyone was saying Act of God which tells the reader that something wrong is going to happen.

If it weren t flashback this story would have been never ending. Flashback is when the narrator tells the reader about things that happened at an earlier time. The one example of foreshadowing, in this story, is when the narrator says, Moreover, during his three years as a planter, Leiningen had met and defeated drought, flood, plague, and all other acts of God. Carl Stephenson used excellent foreshadowing to make his story a lot shorter and show how Leiningen dealt with nature.

Carl Stephenson used superb characterization, foreshadowing, and Flashback to simply show people underestimate the power of nature.