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Night Thoreau Spent In Jail Analysis

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Emerson states one of his maxim as "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind". The following maxim means that one should not succumb to what society wants you to be but instead, one should follow their own path. A universal theme relating to this maxim can be perceived as human beings should follow their own way, mindset, or their sense of intuitive feeling. This maxim and its concept relates to the book,"The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail," by Emerson, which came from the
Transcendentalism Era.
In "The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail", this particular scene applies to the follow maxim which that takes place in a classroom where Thoreau is teaching his students and refuses to teach using the textbooks provided by the school. Outraged, …show more content…

This maxim speaks of not letting society tell what you should be or what you should do in which Thoreau proves by going against "society", not wanting to teach the students textbooks provided by the school. The school plays the role of that society and Thoreau does not want to conform to that way of education.
Another example that can be related to the maxim would be the constant message being told by parents to their children. Parents will persuade and speak of the "future" preferences that a child must do in order to be successful in life. "Society" represents the parents who consistently try to force the child to conform to their ways.
A short poem called,"The Learnt Astronomer," by Walt Whitman, clearly represents this maxim. In the poem, it tells of a person who sits, not listening, but never actually cares of what occurring. This means that the person is following their own way by not caring and staring off into space, not giving any of his or her attention to whats going on.
To conclude, this maxim states that you should not conform to what society wants you to do but instead, you should follow your own way.

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In connection to the play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail," by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, the maxim is illustrated in the church scene scene where Thoreau pushes a wheelbarrow full of earth into a church. Thoreau asks the churchgoers, "Have all of you been shut up inside? On this beautiful morning?

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