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Allusions
Definition of Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, and behaviors to animals or other non-human things (including objects, plants, and supernatural beings). Some famous examples of anthropomorphism include Winnie the Pooh, the Little Engine... read full definition
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, and behaviors to animals or other non-human things (including objects, plants, and supernatural beings). Some famous examples of anthropomorphism include Winnie... read full definition
Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human characteristics, emotions, and behaviors to animals or other non-human things (including objects, plants, and supernatural beings). Some famous... read full definition
Chapter 8
Explanation and Analysis—Image of Despair:
Given Darwin's commitment to the scientific method and scientific reasoning, it may seem odd that he sometimes resorts to anthropomorphism and pathos. One example occurs in Chapter 8, when he describes an ant watching in "despair" as its colony is raided by neighboring ants:
The nest, however, must have been close at hand, for two or three individuals of F. fusca were rushing about in the greatest agitation, and one was perched motionless with its own pupa in its mouth on the top of a spray of heath, an image of despair over its ravaged home.
This dramatic moment encapsulates the relationship Darwin has been trying to describe between two species of ants, F. sanguinea and F. fusca. F. sanguinea, Darwin claims, regularly kidnaps the pupae of F. fusca and enslaves them from a young age. Here, he tells the reader about a time he watched F. sanguinea "ravage" a nest of F. fusca and carry off their young. He admits that he could not locate exactly where the nest was, but he imagines that it was close at hand because he saw one of the F. fusca ants holding its baby and watching the horrific event unfold. He imagines that this ant is the embodiment of despair.
Darwin is projecting human feelings, social systems, and stories onto these ants. While it is a vast oversimplification to state that animals don't have emotions, there is not very much data regarding animal feelings and their triggers. There was even less data when Darwin was writing. Rather than data about ants, Darwin seems to be drawing on sensational stories about kidnapping, enslavement, and family separation that were increasingly common in the 19th century. While many of these stories were true or at least based in fact, they were also aimed to stir up emotion about the immorality and horror that went along with colonization and enslavement. Many of them featured parents, especially mothers, hopelessly grieving over the destruction of their once-peaceful homes and families. Darwin has been trying to describe the F. sanguinea instinct to "enslave" the F. fusca. This dramatic moment of anthropomorphism demonstrates that it is no accident that he uses this loaded term: Darwin is trying to stir up his readers' feelings, and he is using echoes of a hot button social issue to do so.
Of course, Darwin's aim is not to get his readers excited about justice in the ant world. Instead, he wants them to marvel at how complex the ant world is. Immediately after describing the despairing parent ant, he writes, "Such are the facts, though they did not need confirmation by me, in regard to the wonderful instinct of making slaves." Darwin means "wonderful" in the sense of "awe-inspiring," not necessarily admirable. He activates his readers' wonder at human society in all its glory and horror and then asks them to accept that "such are the facts" of nature as well. Many of Darwin's detractors did not believe nature could produce such strange creatures without the intervention of some intelligent being. Here, he tries to make clear that nature can be just as unbelievable as humanity.
Related Themes:
