Leiningen Versus The Ants Essay -- English Literature Essays

Leiningen Versus The Ants Would you risk your own life and the lives of another 400 people just so you might have a chance at saving a coffee plantation? Well that’s what Leiningen did in the short story â€Å"Leiningen Versus the Ants†. And by doing so he has proved himself to be an over confident, persuasive, and sexist man. And is not a person to be admired. In this story Leiningen has shown himself as an extremely over confident person. From the time he was aware of the impending danger of the ants, to when he was almost willing to give it all up he still believed that he could conquer them. This is show on the very first page of the story where Leiningen says â€Å"Decent of you, paddling all this way just to give me the tip. But you’re pulling my leg of course when you say I must do a bunk. Why, even a herd of saurians couldn’t drive me from this plantation of mine.† A second sign of his over confidence is when he says â€Å"And don’t think I’m the kind of fathead who tries to fend lightning off with my fists, either. I use my intelligence, old man. With me, the brain isn’t a second blind gut; I know what it’s there for. When I began this model farm and plantation three years ago, I took into account all that could conceivably happen to it. And now I’m ready for anything and everything---including your ants.† These two statements show him as thinking he has planned for the worst and knows all that lies ahead of him but in truth, he knows the least of what will actually happen...