The Ant and the Grasshopper

1. The Ant and the Grasshopper Unit Three

2. William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)

3. On story-telling • "I have never pretended to be anything but a story teller. It has amused me to tell stories and I have told a great many. It is a misfortune for me that the telling of a story just for the sake of the story is not an activity that is in favor with the intelligentsia. I endeavor to bear my misfortunes with fortitude." (from Creatures of Circumstance, 1947)

4. The Moon and Sixpence • Inspired by the life of Paul Gauguin (1848-1903) • From Paris to Tahiti • “To me, barbarism is a rejuvenation.” • “Art is either plagiarism or revolution.” • “I shut my eyes in order to see. ”

7. The Razor’s Edge • “"The sharp edge of a razor is difficult to pass over; thus the wise say the path to Salvation is hard. —Katha-Upanishad. ” • Larry Darrell disinclined to assume a conventional role in American society; his peers all want to enjoy the prosperity of the twenties and can not understand his antipathy toward work. • five years in India, two spent with a saintly Yogi in an ashram, he has found peace.

9. Opening of Trainspotting(1996) • Choose Life. Choose a job. Choose a career. Choose a family. Choose a fucking big television, choose washing machines, cars, compact disc players and electrical tin openers. Choose good health, low cholesterol, and dental insurance. Choose fixed interest mortgage repayments. Choose a starter home. Choose your friends. Choose leisurewear and matching luggage. Choose a three-piece suite on hire purchase in a range of fucking fabrics. Choose DIY and wondering who the fuck you are on Sunday night. Choose sitting on that couch watching mind-numbing, spirit-crushing game shows, stuffing fucking junk food into your mouth. Choose rotting away at the end of it all, pissing your last in a miserable home, nothing more than an embarrassment to the selfish, fucked up brats you spawned to replace yourselves. Choose your future. Choose life... But why would I want to do a thing like that? I chose not to choose life. I chose somethin' else. And the reasons? There are no reasons. Who needs reasons when you've got heroin?

10. Memorable Sentences • The Ant and the Grasshopper is devised to bring home to the young the useful lesson that in an imperfect world industry is rewarded and giddiness punished. • I do not ascribe it to perversity on my part, but rather to the inconsequence of childhood, which is deficient in moral sense, that I could never quite reconcile myself to the lesson. • There was every reason to suppose that Tom Ramsay would have a useful and honorable career.

11. Memorable Sentences • I have never met anyone to whom it was more difficult to refuse a loan. …I never lent him fifty pounds without feeling that I was in his debt. • If he were prosecuted he would assuredly be convicted. • He was a most amusing companion and though you knew he was perfectly worthless you could not but enjoy his society.

12. Epicureanism • Epicurus (341– 270 BC ) • “Stranger, here you will do well to tarry; here our highest good is pleasure.”

13. Irony • discordance between acts and results; the real and the ideal • incongruity between an understanding of reality,or expectation of a reality and what actually happens

14. Ironic --- Alanis Morissette • An old man turned ninety-eight He won the lottery and died the next day It's a black fly in your Chardonnay It's a death row pardon two minutes too late Isn't it ironic ... don't you think It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought ... it figures

15. Ironic --- Alanis Morissette • Mr. Play It Safe was afraid to fly He packed his suitcase and kissed his kids good-bye He waited his whole damn life to take that flight And as the plane crashed down he thought 'Well isn't this nice...' And isn't it ironic ... don't you think • It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought ... it figures

16. Ironic --- Alanis Morissette • Well life has a funny way of sneaking up on you When you think everything's okay and everything's going right And life has a funny way of helping you out when You think everything's gone wrong and everything blows up In your face

17. Ironic --- Alanis Morissette • It's a traffic jam when you're already late It's a no-smoking sign on your cigarette break It's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife • It's meeting the man of my dreams And then meeting his beautiful wife And isn't it ironic... don't you think A little too ironic... and yeah I really do think...

18. Ironic --- Alanis Morissette • It's like rain on your wedding day It's a free ride when you've already paid It's the good advice that you just didn't take Who would've thought ... it figures • Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you Life has a funny, funny way of helping you out Helping you out

19. The Verger • He knew his value and he wasn’t going to allow himself to be put upon. • He could not sustain the air of unruffled dignity with which he had borne the blow inflicted upon him. • Albert Edward was a non-smoker and a total abstainer, but with a certain latitude. • It occurred to him now that one (cigarette) would comfort him…

20. Render onto Caesar what was Caesar’s “Render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s , and render to God what is God’s.” --- Luke 20:25 the Bible The relationship between Christianity and secular authority. Separation of Church and State