Leiningen Versus the Ants

“Leiningen Versus the Ants” is a story about colonialism that depicts colonial rule favorably. This is unsurprising, given that Carl Stephenson wrote the story in the 1930s, when European nations still possessed colonies abroad and reaped immense economic benefits from their landholdings. Today, we would apply a postcolonial reading to the story, addressing the issues of race, gender, and language that the narrative raises.

Stephenson positions Leiningen in contrast to the planter’s indigenous workers, who are depicted as docile and primitive. The efficacy of Leiningen’s Western scientific methods contrast with the natives’ ineffective shamanistic recipes. Stephenson also describes Leiningen’s antipathy toward women in a couple of instances to underscore the protagonist’s masculine prowess.

Leiningen is the only character in the story who is presented as a fully-realized individual. The predominant way in which Stephenson accomplishes this is by giving Leiningen the power of language. He is the only character who has the full power of speech, both through dialogue and the third-person omniscient narrative. This exemplifies how colonialism allowed for the master’s tongue and discourse to replace or supersede that of the indigenous peoples whom they conquered.