On page 180, in the second paragraph, Clayton goes on to tell us the lesson of the fable from Hesiod's Works and Days. Clayton states "In other words, might makes right, the weak suffer at the whim of the stronger, and rebellion by the weak is futile and only brings more pain and the potential for destruction". In my personal opinion, this is very true. All over the world we witness the the weak suffering from something the stronger has done. Weather it be corrupt government making their citizens lives harder (Africa) , or unfair working conditions from a grumpy boss who makes your life harder (personal experience). Might does make right in these situations, but sometimes might is limited. A person can only do so much when the problem they face is their own government. It all comes down to living with what is put on your plate, or die. Although rebellion may seem like the only way out of an unfair way of living, death is usually what the rebels are left with.
-MI
Hi Marcel,
ReplyDeleteI really agree with the global connection that you made. It is true that all over the world the weak suffers and the strong are on top, whether its financial or just in general. I think that these fables were told to the lower class during the time that it was written purposefully to warn them that they will never be able to climb the social ladder and be amongst the elite- no matter how hard they tried. The paragraph that you noted was amongst the ones that stood out to me a lot for this particular reason. As I noted in my own blog, despite how much time passes or what occurs-human nature will stay the same.