Both Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Mahatma Gandhi 's "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March" are some of the most influential works of literature with a strong focus on protest. There are many differences, as well as similarities between these two great works. Gandhi had a strong influence in his writing from the works of Thoreau, and this can be seen in “On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March.” When reading these works it is easy to see the ties between the great authors that are Thoreau and Gandhi. The first similarity in these two works is simply the subject matter. Obviously, Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” is about his protest, and Gandhi’s work speaks about a protest that is going to happen the following day of the writing of this essay (Gandhi). In, “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau speaks of the poll tax, or tax placed on people rather than property often for the right to vote, that he refused to pay. In turn, he is arrested and spends some time in jail (Thoreau). He spends a lot of time talking about the injustice of charging someone for something that they are not a part …show more content…
These works embody the idea of protest of the wrongs and injustices done by organizations like government that have arguable too much control. These authors, in their own ways are able to tell their own stories of protest and how to protest respectively. It is easy to see the similarities, and this is understandable because of the fact that Gandhi was greatly influenced by the works of Thoreau, and it is almost ironic because of Gandhi’s use of the phrase “civil disobedience” in his work. These two important literary works will remain just that, important, for a long time because they serve as the model for the first works regarding