Anyone wish to decipher the meaning of a quote?

[Stereoisomer]

'Your idea of love is the same as that of all the other young men of the new generation. "Cluck, cluck, cluck, "you call to the hen and the moment the hen comes anywhere near you, you run for your life! I am different. But that's enough of that. What can't be cured must be endured.' He turned over on his side. 'Aha! there goes a valiant ant dragging off a half - dead fly. Take her away, brother, taker her away! Never mind her resistance: avail yourself of your animal right to feel no compassion - not like us poor self - destructive brethen!'

Thanks:)

[lil_lil]

'Your idea of love is the same as that of all the other young men of the new generation. "Cluck, cluck, cluck," you call to the hen and the moment the hen comes anywhere near you, you run for your life! I am different. But that's enough of that. What can't be cured must be endured.' He turned over on his side. 'Aha! there goes a valiant ant dragging off a half - dead fly. Take her away, brother, taker her away! Never mind her resistance: avail yourself of your animal right to feel no compassion - not like us poor self - destructive brethren!'

I haven't read the book yet and so this is purely a speculation of the quote.

Please be warned that there may be many poor expressions, generalisations and misinterpretations in this observation.

This is talking about how the person being directed at (the son?) does not understand about "love". The speaker (the father?), can be perceived as someone who is older and more experienced in his life since he says "other young men of the new generation", distinguishing him from his son who is making a grave mistake. The idea of running away, being a coward is shown through "you run for your life". One can also feel the degoratory tone coming from the speaker as he uses the expression of an animal, a chicken to describe the son's action. It is clearly illustrated that the speaker disapprove of his son's action. "I am different" portrays the different position of character whether in their attitude, value or social background. Then the speaker changes his focus by saying "What can't be cured must be endured". This implies his objection to what is happening currently but since he cannot alter the situation, the only solution is to wait and endure. Perhaps, this is because the speaker is an advisor and he is not directly involved.

The use of imagery of "a valiant ant dragging off a half-dead fly" is what the speaker hopes the son will be like by "feeling no compassion" since this "love" is "destructive". This is because if the ant does not bring food home, it will starve to death. Therefore, the emotions are useless if it is impeding the rational decision. Nonetheless, it is revealed after and reinforces through hyphen that the speaker and son cannot escape from the love that they are attempting to run away from. If they do, there will be destruction and it conveys an idea of a vicious cycle that is ineluctable. The reference to nature, "ant" and "hen" displays the contrast between human and animal as we are blessed with a conscience that can help us in deciding, whereas both the hen and ant have no choice because they need to survive and reproduce. Yet the speaker choose to relate us with these animals because in the end, we are no different from them.

I hope that you will post up your own interpretation or what is expected of this quote so that I can improve my understanding. By the way, this feels so much like an Unseen Commentary.

[Mattias]

'Your idea of love is the same as that of all the other young men of the new generation. "Cluck, cluck, cluck, "you call to the hen and the moment the hen comes anywhere near you, you run for your life! I am different. But that's enough of that. What can't be cured must be endured.' He turned over on his side. 'Aha! there goes a valiant ant dragging off a half - dead fly. Take her away, brother, taker her away! Never mind her resistance: avail yourself of your animal right to feel no compassion - not like us poor self - destructive brethen!'

I think first off the bat, we can identify the speaker as someone who is much more wise and older than the "young man" due to his knowing and condescending tone he takes all throughout this quote. We can see that the youth takes something of a vice in this poem, as he refers to young men as fickle in their thinking. (by using the hen example). He then later goes on to talk about how instead of this problem being cured, it must be endured- therefore clearly showing his/her problem lying with innate human nature ( i think its a she)

The reference to the ant is supposed to highlight what the speakers message is- to show that human nature is a lot like animals in a sense (hens, ants) and that what we do (in youth) is considered to be harsh and have "no compassion".

He speaker compares us to animals.

The ending is a signpost- the speaker is being sarcastic