"The Ant and the Grasshopper"

     Do you think the message in Maugham's story is the same as or different from the message in the Aesop fable of the ant and the grasshopper? Explain.

     The original "Ant and the Grasshopper" from Aesop is clearly different from the modern version. In the original story, the hardworking character was rewarded and the idle one was punished. In contrast, the newer version from W. Somerset Maugham has a quite different meaning. Both characters had the same features, but at the end of the story the winner was Tom, who represented the grasshopper. Tom didn't work as George did, but he used his charm to get a lot of things in his life, including a great fortune. He enjoyed his life while his brother George worked. This one is a more realistic story that shows the unfairness on this world. Not always the good person wins; nowadays the bad is barely punished.