Rhetorical Analysis Of Henry David Thoreau

Henry David Thoreau was an American essayist, and widely known transcendentalist. He is most known for his compelling essay, Civil Disobedience, and his Memoir, Walden. Thoreau was a lifelong abolitionist, and shared this idea with others, during lectures for example. Throughout 1846 to 1848, Thoreau peacefully protested the unjust Government out of revulsion for slavery and the Mexican-American war, with aspirations that others would join him. Thoreau was briefly jailed for being a staunch supporter of the refusal to pay taxes for things he did not believe in, which in this case was the ongoing Mexican-American war. This captivity by the Government galvanized his motive for writing this well known essay, Civil Disobedience. In his essay, Thoreau

Thoreau poses questions that get the Americans to think about their conformity; “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once?” By asking this question and elaborating on what they could do to endeavor and amend the unjust laws, Thoreau insinuates that they should not be content to conform and obey them, they should flout against these unjust laws until they have triumphed! He uses this question to shout to all of the Americans conforming; to tell them to show their individuality and stand out. Another compelling question Thoreau asks is: “Why is it not more apt to anticipate and provide for reform? Why does it not cherish its wise minority? Why does it cry and resist before it is hurt? Why does it not encourage its citizens to put out its faults, and do better than it would have them? Why does it always crucify Christ and excommunicate Copernicus and Luther, and pronounce Washington and Franklin rebels?” Thoreau refers to the Government when asking all these questions about the Government’s role, indirectly getting his readers to question the Government and their actions. He asks why the Government does all these things, when it could be doing more to help America and everyone in

Thoreau adds crucial detail to his essay and creates validity through the application of figurative language. Thoreau appeals to metaphors and allusion to inform his readers that the Government does not always do the unrivaled thing for its people; Thoreau uses metaphors in his essay to show his readers what the Government is like, and to help them make a connection to its true intentions. Thoreau lambasts the Government as, “The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies”. In other words, the Government views these men as serving them like a puppet. They can manipulate them to serve them however they wish. They also claim they are all the same; “wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well”. Thoreau gets the point across that those who serve the state and conform with their lives can be ‘manufactured’. That they could use their own influence to find many just like them, that they are as all the same and nothing special. Thoreau wants his readers to think that the Government does not care about its people and does not always do what is best for them, and this is why it needs to be modulated. This leads me to my next example. Thoreau wants to emphasize that the Government needed to change. He does this through an aphorism; “I HEARTILY accept the motto, That government is best which governs least". This motto in Thoreau’s case, is saying that if the Government wants to improve, it needs to take