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The night thoreau spent in jail quizlet
Thoreau essay on civil disobedience
Thoreau essay on civil disobedience
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In the passage from "Civil Disobedience," the author, Thoreau, utilizes rhetorical devices to support his theme. Such devices include tone and diction. The theme expressed in the text is that the government is in need of change and acceptance, not a replacement. The author conveys a serious and professional tone throughout the passage. This helps add more to the seriousness of the subject and theme created which is the government needs change and acceptance, not a replacement.
Another act where he went against the rules of government is when he refused to get a license in order to kayak down a river. The man in charge told him that he needed to receive a license before they would allow him on the water. McCandless, not having the necessary identifications he needed in order to get a license, rebelled and found a way onto the water anyway. These are the acts that Thoreau finds to be exhilarating. In the final paragraphs of “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau begins to compare the government to a machine.
The goal in going to prison is making the unfair laws public and calling more attention to them. Thoreau speaks out on how important it is to protest these unfair laws and how breaking them is a form of protest. In Letter From a Birmingham Prison, King writes about how he was arrested for peaceful protest. He was protesting the unfair laws and treatment against African Americans.
When comparing Civil Disobedience and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, it is clear that Thoreau’s ideas and thoughts were revolutionary at the time in which he lived. Both Civil Disobedience and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail are clear compositions of his views, however, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail more effectively connects people to his ideas. Both Civil Disobedience and The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail assert Thoreau’s views on the freeing aspects of jail as well as his thoughts on the rest of America. While in Civil Disobedience Thoreau discusses the “wall of stone between [him] and [his] townsmen” and the even “more difficult [wall the townsmen must] to climb or break through, before they could get to be as free as [he] was”(Thoreau
Throughout history there have been many political changes that are either supported, or not, by citizens. In the given passage from, "Civil Disobedience," by Thoreau, a perspective of disagreeing with the government ways, is provided. Thoreau explains how a government should be in comparison to how it really is by utilizing his words to set the tone and mode, imagery to achieve his audience's understanding, and diction to make his writing scholarly. Although tone and mode are not directly stated, you can infer that Thoreau meant for his writing to be taken as serious and powerful. His implementation of words such as, "inexpedient," "execute," " integrity," and "command," makes one think about their lawful rights and reflect on what rights are supported or
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.
In Martin Luther King, Jr.’s essay, “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau essay “Civil Disobedience,” both share their opinions on social injustice and civil disobedience. They both believe that people can protest unfair and unjust laws imposed on them in a civil way. In addition, King and Thoreau are challenging the government with their essays, which they wrote after they got sent to jail. For protesting the treatment of blacks in Birmingham, Alabama, King spent eleven days in jail; Thoreau spent a night in jail for refusing to pay his poll tax. Both King and Thoreau’s essays present similar plans for a resolution.
Well, he went to jail due to his lack of paying the poll tax. Did he regret about it? As a transcendentalist, Thoreau felt the same as long as his soul was free, or he was even in a better mood, singing and dancing behind bars. “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison,” according to his essay “Civil Disobedience”. Soon more people started following Thoreau’s doctrine, including Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King,
The individual's relationship to the state is a concept often entertained abstractly; at variance with this is Civil Disobedience, which analyzes Thoreau's first direct experience with state power in his brief 1846 imprisonment. Thoreau metaphorically detailed his search for virtue in the quote, "The finest qualities of our nature, like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved only by the most delicate handling. Yet we do not treat ourselves nor one another thus tenderly." (Thoreau 8) In Civil Disobedience Thoreau as earnest seeker and flawed captive of the conscience concertedly attempts to correct this shortcoming within the context of slavery and the Mexican-American War.
Individuals lay the foundation of America. The Founding Fathers of this unique nation broke their allegiance with Great Britain to create an improved governing body. They desired an individual-centered authority as opposed to Britain’s monarchy, which ruled with tyranny. These Founding Fathers experienced a neglectful democratic monarchy that cared little about the ethical treatment of its people. The domineering actions of Britain challenged these historic individuals to form a new cultural identity.
Thoreau explains that the state and societies prison “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” and furthermore that he “was not born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion” (1990). Therefore, Resistance to Civil Government is validating that prison is confinement and conformity, however, Thoreau will not be conforming to any such conformist state and neither should the reader. Thoreau finally reinforces that he is “not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society” and that “if a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies; and so man” (1990), Thoreau is explicating that society needs to be responsible for its self and become self-reliant, just as an individual should be, because it is the nature of the world and society and if it cannot live as such then it will not continue
Thoreau argues that if government is oppressing the peoples right to change the government, that they should stop paying the taxes because they are paying the government to continue to oppress them. He continues, saying if they are attacked they can only be attacked physically, and that their freedom is always with them. In prison they still won't pay taxes, and are left to their “freedom.” The majority of Thoreau’s criticism is thrown at
Henry David Thoreau wrote the famous letter “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” while doing his time in jail for not paying his poll tax in protest against slavery and the Mexican War. Thoreau was an outspoken critic against social issues he didn’t believe in. His letter has made a big influence on many other civil rights activists. In his letter, Thoreau used many different rhetorical strategies including pathos, as well as usages of logos and diction in order to achieve his purpose in persuading his audience that the government shouldn’t intervene. Thoreau’s use of pathos was seen greatly throughout his writing.
“Unjust laws exist,” he writes in his statement, and he says that people must try and be a “counter-friction” to these unjust laws of the government, even while they may be put at risk of imprisonment because of it. But what does he say about imprisonment? Thoreau says to accept the punishment, so others could see the example that they make when acting against
He knew he must deal with his consequences of being a nonconformist, and this meant jail time for him. To Thoreau, jail is more than just a punishment for breaking the law. It is proof of his identity of a nonconformist. He believes in firm respect of the individual so one can proposer. He focuses on the individual's responsibility to live deliberately and to gain meaning from their life.
