This document summarizes and analyzes the fable "The Fox and the Grapes" by Aesop from a moralist criticism perspective. It discusses how the fox justified calling the grapes "sour" only after failing to reach them, showing his pride and negative attitude. This negative influence could impact readers. Overall, the fable portrays how human pride, bitterness and laziness can prevent achievement, as the fox decided the grapes were not worth effort only to soothe its desire for them. The work presents this unethical idea through the characters.

1. Moralist
The moral/intellectual critical approach
is concerned with content and values.
The approach is as old as literature itself,
for literature is a traditional mode of
imparting morality, philosophy, and
religion.

2. MORALIST CRITICISM WEIGHS THE TEXT BY THESE
CONSIDERATIONS:
Is a practical, moral, or ethical idea being
presented?
How does the text play out given ethical
principles?
Does the work seem to build a positive or
negative influence on it’s readers?

3. The Fox & the Grapes
A Fox one day spied a beautiful bunch of ripe grapes hanging from a
vine trained along the branches of a tree. The grapes seemed ready to
burst with juice, and the Fox's mouth watered as he gazed longingly at
them.
The bunch hung from a high branch, and the Fox had to jump for it.
The first time he jumped he missed it by a long way. So he walked off
a short distance and took a running leap at it, only to fall short once
more. Again and again he tried, but in vain.
Now he sat down and looked at the grapes in disgust.
"What a fool I am," he said. "Here I am wearing myself out to get a
bunch of sour grapes that are not worth gaping for."
And off he walked very, very scornfully.
By Aesop

4. Excuses are the best scapegoat everyone could ask for and the
final push one needs to give up. After all, it is far easier to make
an excuse, than to see your hard work bear no fruit. Aesop's The
Fox and the Grapes depicted a common human fault that
violated values and ethics, one is expected to always have.
Employing personification, the fable tells the story of the fox
captivated by the succulent and beautiful grapes, trying to jump
for it again and again but to no avail. The fox, unable to accept
its failure now then concluded that it was unimportant saying
that it was "sour". The irony in which the grapes he so coveted,
become the perfect object to project his frustration to spoke his
pride.
Moralist Critique

5. The fox ultimately gave up because the grapes were "sour" yet the grapes
have not changed. They are just as ripe and succulent looking as they were
originally. It is the fox that changed his view of them and the one truly
turned sour. The author justified the fox's comment "sour" unto the grapes
as it conveyed the change of attitude he adapted after he cannot get what
he wanted which is the sour grapes. His lack of imagination and to realize his
ability to solve the problem cost him the time he could've taken to find food,
he had the means to attain. This negative attitude employed a negative
influence on the readers which is later established to be wrong with the help
of its moral lesson.
Overall, like the fox, human pride, bitterness and laziness will only amount to
the inability to achieve anything. Because they are not easily obtained,
people decide it is not worth any effort, only to soothe their lust for them.
Aesop's work portrayed this unethical idea through the character of a fox
and some grapes.