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Disobedience Essay Thesis

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Civil Disobedience Essay Many people are unaware that Henry David Thoreau is the originator of civil disobedience. Civil disobedience is refusing to obey a law that is unjust in a peaceful matter. Dolores Huerta, Cesar Chavez, and Martin Luther King Jr are some of many people who have participated in the act of civil disobedience. Between these, Thoreau’s approach to civil disobedience would be most effective in combating unjust laws because he stands for his morals even with negative consequences. Something that made Thoreau’s approach so effective was him standing against slavery by not paying his taxes. In the beginning he explains, “I cannot for an instant recognize that political organization as my government which is the slave’s government …show more content…

In the middle of “Civil Disobedience” he states, “Thus the state never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectual or moral, but only his body, his senses, it is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was not born to be forced. [...] Let us see who is the strongest… When I meet a government which says to me, ''Your money or your life”, why should I be in haste to give it my money?” (Thoreau 5-6).He explains that the government does not wish to hear what the people have to say about unjust laws. They are more worried about their physique and strength rather than what goes on in the country. In addition, he goes on to say that, while he was in jail, “In every threat and in every compliment there was a blunder; for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of that stone wall… as they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body… I saw that the state was half-witted… and I lost all my remaining respect for it…” (Thoreau 15). No matter how hard the government tried to get him to agree with them, he stuck to his belief and took a beating instead. The government harming Thoreau shows their true colors and the potential the government has of being ugly. This proves that Thoreau put his morals before anything, no matter the

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Thoreau gives examples of slavery practice and the Mexican-American war to establish his point further. He asserts that the government itself becomes an obstacle between achieving its purpose, the purpose for which it was created. However, Thoreau makes it clear that he is against abolishing the government,

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In the society Steinbeck describes, if one were to disobey the rules, he “had no place in any world, no matter where created” (Steinbeck 266). Even though the families had rights, they seemingly did not have the right to protest if they believed a law was unjust. Because of this, the rulers of this society have all of the power. Individuals have to keep their own beliefs private and must adhere to society’s rules, not matter if they were right or wrong, in fear of being shamed. Comparatively, the very foundation of Thoreau’s beliefs is that humans have the right to rebel against a corrupt state.

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Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience heavily criticizes the government for being too corrupt and also argues that the people have the right to refuse allegiance to the State. Because the government is unjust and corrupt, Thoreau calls for a change in how the government operates rather than abolishing the government entirely. Thoreau’s idea of a better government is a government that governs the least. This claim is elaborated as Thoreau states in his essay that the individuals with consciences should rule instead of the government officials that lack said consciences. For example, in part 1 paragraph 4, he mocks individuals such as soldiers and privates for showing respect to the government through marching admirably because they are going

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The essay “Civil Disobedience” is about the individuals facing the society they live in, as well as the fight against injustice. Thoreau says in his essay, “I think we should be men first, and subjects afterwards” (392). Thoreau says that they should act as citizens of a community before they act as subjects of the government as well as society. Thoreau also states that, “The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to so at any time what I think is right” (392). This means that at any point in time, as long as the individual does what he believes is right, society’s (as well as government, in this case) standards do not apply.

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He uses this system as another way to proclaim his opinions. He wants people to be conscientious about the laws and systems taking place around them every day. He wants people to ponder on the idea that “unjust laws exist: shall [they] be content to obey them, or shall [they] transgress them at once?”(6). Thoreau goes on to answer this question by saying most people will not stand up for injustice until someone else makes a stand first. The consequences of standing up to the government frightened the American people, leading to a minimal amount of change to take place in this nation.

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Thoreau believes that an individual who acts with fairness, righteousness, and moral integrity has the ability to make a positive impact and influence societal change. heavily influenced by Gandhi's principles, expands on nonviolent civil disobedience as a collective and organized approach to challenge unjust laws and societal norms. He stresses the importance of direct action, peaceful protests, and that the power of love can overcome hate. Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" laid the groundwork for later civil rights movements, and its ideas on individual conscience and nonviolent resistance inspired people like Gandhi and King.

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Published in 1849, a time filled with slavery and prejudice laws, Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” was initially written as a speech to help express the importance of individuality amongst those under the government’s rule. Throughout his essay, Thoreau uses rhetorical techniques such as analogies for example, comparing men who serve the government to machines, to articulate his distrust towards the government, while emphasizing the active role that each citizen must play in it through standing up for their beliefs. He found it important to persuade civilians to oppose unjust government because many of the people around him were blindly following the government, without even considering their own moral conscience. Thoreau opens

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Thoreau 's views on the government by comparing the government to a machine. He states, ”When the machine was producing injustice, it was the duty of conscientious citizens to be ‘a counter friction’ (i.e., a resistance) "to stop the machine.” The two major issues being debated in the United States during his life was slavery and the Mexican-American War in which were major reasons he wrote his essays. In the mid to late 1840’s slavery has been indoctrinated into American society in which caused rifts between Americans.

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It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right." (Jacobus, 306). He argues that it is up to each and every individual to stand up for their own rights and know the difference between what’s right and what’s wrong. As said by Thoreau, by committing acts of civil disobedience or peaceful protests, citizens of the nations are able to have their voice to speak up against the wrongdoings of their own government. They bring attention to the more important issues at hand and allow opinions to be formed, and can thus spark change in society.

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He begins by comparing those who respect the law as powder-monkeys—boys who had the job of carrying gunpowder to the military—who march in “against their common sense and conscience.” This analogy highlights the blind trust that Thoreau believes many people put in the government; and he then reasons that if that complete submission happens, are they even “men at all?” Thoreau then parallels these people to machines—who work without thought—wood, earth, stones, straw, and dirt—which are the lowest of the low—and horses and dogs—who, again, work for a higher power with no free thought or opinions. He reduces this majority of people to nothing but mindless followers. All of these comparisons help to dehumanize and belittle those that respect the law, and associate them with negative, inferior connotations, which then compels the reader to identify with the stronger

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The key to deconstructing Thoreau's argument is to understand his hierarchy of government and the individual. Thoreau's ideal communion between the individual and the state is manifest by the individual as a "higher and independent power". This relationship is entertained in Civil Disobedience in the analysis of Thoreau's 1846 imprisonment, in which Thoreau demonstrated freedom as an internal and subjective

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Thoreau, on the other hand, used “Civil Disobedience” to encourage people to stand up to the government. Thoreau encourages people that they should stand up for what they believe in, even if it goes against the majority. “Why does it not encourage its citizens to be on the alert to point out its faults, and do better than it would have them?” (Thoreau). Thoreau is not anti-government, instead he wants the U.S. citizen’s thoughts and opinions, to be heard by the government, and wants the government to change and adapt based on their citizens, not the other way

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Thoreau’s view on the society as he states, “In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth and stones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well” go to show that it was harder to have individuality and to refuse the governments ways. Now-a-days the practice of civil disobedience has allowed citizens to practice non-conformity with the protection of amendments but back then while the nation was just growing they had to have more power and that, “so long as the interest of the whole society requires it, that is, so long as the established government cannot be resisted or changed without public inconveniency, it is the will of God that the established government be obeyed, and no longer" as quoted by Paley. The society was most likely pushed towards acceptance of the government and weren’t as self-reliant to make change in their

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You can’t walk in the woods and see a leaf that doesn’t quite know if it wants to fall to the ground or stay on the tree. Thoreau noticed this, and thought that if people could be decisive in the same way that nature was, then they could “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put as to put to rout all that was not life… cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner…” (Walden 771) This is something that Thoreau highly valued. He wanted to live as his own person, which was, in his mind, best accomplished by living in nature and not being involved with the government.

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