Thoreau and Emerson are the same in many ways, the both have the things they stand against. Emerson wants us to be ourselves by being independent, he thinks you have to be yourself to be great. Thoreau wants you be be yourself by not following the government blindly, if you know the law is unjust don't follow it. Although Thoreau and Emerson may have their similarities, they also have things that set them apart. Thoreau is fighting is individuality with the government and its unjust laws. In his essay “Civil Disobedience’ he states “That government is best which governs least” (Thoreau 390). In Emerson’s story “Self Reliance” he is fighting his individuality with the part of society who doesn't think or act for themselves. In Emerson’s essay he states “...But God will not have his work made manifest by cowards” (Emerson 225). …show more content…
In the essay it states “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them or shall we endeavor to amend them”(Thoreau 393). Thoreau uses this quote to say you have a choice to be yourself and break the unjust law or blindly follow the law knowing it is unjust. Thoreau also wants individual people to be themselves by following what the feel is right; following your conscience. In the essay it states “The only obligation which i have a right to assume is to do at any time what I feel is right” (Thoreau 392). Thoreau states this quote to say that he knows what the right thing is and nothing is going to stir him off his path. In Thoreau’s essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau tells people that it is good to break a law if it goes against your morals, and follow your
Henry David Thoreau also used a personal tone to express his optimism for mankind. He wrote to critique the public, but more so to encourage readers to enlighten themselves and change for the better. He is often more uplifting and idealistic than Emerson. Thoreau also had a more practical outlook than Emerson. Likewise, his style is more casual than the other writers.
During the time of Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr., freedom for African-Americans was relative terminology in the fact that one was during slavery and the other during the Civil Rights era. “Civil Disobedience,” written by Thoreau, analyzes the duty and responsibility of citizens to protest and take action against such corrupt laws and other acts of the government. Likewise, King conveys to his “Letter from Birmingham Jail” audience that the laws of the government against blacks are intolerable and that civil disobedience should be used as an instrument of freedom. Both writers display effective usage of the pathos and ethos appeal as means to persuade their audience of their cause and meaning behind their writing, although King proves to be more successful in his execution.
When a citizen abides by the social contract, they initially agree to enter and be a participant of a civil society. The contract essentially binds people into a community that exists for mutual preservation. When a person wants to be a member of civil society, they sacrifice the physical freedom of being able to do whatever they please, but they gain the civil freedom of being able to think and act rationally and morally. Citizens have what is called prima facie obligation to obey the laws of a relatively just state. A prima facie duty is an obligation that we should try to satisfy but that can be overridden on occasion by another, stronger duty. When it comes to prima facie duty, this duty can be outweighed by a higher order obligation or
While Emerson never truly factored his transcendentalist ideals into his daily life, Thoreau made a point out of living out his days as a man free from society and connected to nature. In 1846, he refused to pay his poll tax to the government because he believed the war was unjust and did not want to support the government. In doing this, he showed that he remains strong in his own beliefs and will not agree with something just to conform to society. He also showcases Emerson’s philosophy on learning by forming beliefs based on his own life and morals, which were based in nature, receiving instruction from Emerson’s ideas on self-reliance, and taking action against something he believes is unjust. In an excerpt from one of Thoreau’s books, he says, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Thoreau 16). What he is saying through this is that he wants to evaluate himself in the context of nature and understand what life is like in its purest and fundamental form. He hoped to gain a knowledge of the world and explore what nature had to offer and learn from his experience. Also, Thoreau is letting his readers know that connecting with nature is essential in finding yourself and
“Spoke not what men but what they thought.” This quote is saying that people have the freedom to speak for themselves and they don’t have to conform into what society wants them to be/do. Civil Disobedience Analysis Questions 1. Consider the historical context of Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience. Would it be easier or harder to practice non-conformity today?
In Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience," he uses a hyperbole to support his belief that "one person can make a change," an idea still relevant today. Thoreau uses many forms of literary techniques such as multiple hyperbole, emotional appeals, and paradoxes. Thoreau uses these to sustain his ideas on civil disobedience. He believes if you believe in something, and support something you should do whatever it takes to help the cause. Many people in today's society believe to just go with the flow, rather than living like Thoreau has, and supporting his own beliefs no matter what the consequence. Henry David Thoreau had a lot of personal authority, he was all about his own independence. Many different people believed in being a non-conformist, and Thoreau was one of them, and he very well showed how much he supported it. Thoreau was not the only nonconformist, they're many people who followed his beliefs and they refused to be bound by anybody, or anything they did not support. Other non-conformists were Gandhi, Galileo, Malcom X and many more.
The Civil Rights Movement was a series of actions that really peaked in the 1960's. These political actions were aimed at gaining rights for African Americans. However, there were two ways of going about the movement. There were ones who protested peacefully, like Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and others who wanted a more pro-active way of fighting, like the black-rights activist Malcolm X. However, which way was more proactive? Even though both had great intentions, Dr. Martin Luther King had a better way of trying to achieve rights for the African American community.
Henry David Thoreau in his essay “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau asserts that men should react from their conscience. Thoreau believed it was the duty of a person to defy the law if his conscience says that the law is unjust. He believed this even if the law was made by a democratic action. Thoreau
While Emerson and Thoreau certainly have difference of opinions, they recognize the need for public discussion and discourse. Emerson declares “a foolish consistency” to be “the hobgoblin of little minds” (Emerson 367). This is shown in their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience” in which they support individuality and personal expression. Despite their contrasting views of society and government, the two most prominent transcendentalists in literary history share a passionate belief in the necessity that every American must exercise their constitutional rights and make known their views even and especially if it challenges the status quo.
Civil disobedience is the refusal to obey civil laws in an effort to induce change in governmental policy or legislation, characterized by the use of passive resistance or other nonviolent means. The use of nonviolence runs throughout history however the fusion of organized mass struggle and nonviolence is relatively new.
Comparing the Civil Disobedience of Martin Luther King Jr., Henry David Thoreau, and Mohandas Gandhi
History has encountered many different individuals whom have each impacted the 21 in one way or another; two important men whom have revolted against the government in order to achieve justice are Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. Both men impacted numerous individuals with their powerful words, their words carried the ability to inspire both men and women to do right by their morality and not follow unjust laws. “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” by David Henry Thoreau along with King’s “Letter from Birmingham Jail”, allow the audience to understand what it means to protest for what is moral.
In “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau claims that men should act from their conscience. Thoreau believed it was the duty of a person to disobey the law if his conscience says that the law is unjust. He believed this even if the law was made by a democratic process. Thoreau wrote that a law is not just, only because the majority votes for it. He wrote, “Can there not be a government in which the majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?” (Thoreau, P. 4). Thoreau wanted a government in the United States that would make the just laws based on conscience, because the people of the country would not let the elected representatives be unfair. Thoreau did not think people can disobey any law when they want to. He believed that people should obey just laws; however, Thoreau thought that not all laws were right, and he wrote that a man must obey what is right, not what is the law: “It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right” (Thoreau, P. 4).
Although, there’s a lot of people who tend to do this every single day, month, and year. He says that the citizens only follow these laws so that they can be protected by the government. And if they believe in these laws to be not right that they can always have a choice to leave. However, if they found them to be agreeable to be abide by, then they have a duty to be put to punishment. Thoreau on the other hand, basically says that people are wrong in his eyes if they don’t abide by the rules and if they think its injustice. Yet at the same time if you claim to disapprove of it and abide by the rules you would be
Both Transcendentalist thinkers derive their ideas from fairly the same foundation, especially considering that Emerson was a teacher and mentor to Thoreau. Nonetheless, there is still the slight difference in that Thoreau’s main focus is the act of taking physical steps to achieve the goal of living with a purpose, while Emerson elaborates on the internal action of thinking and how to connect the influence of thought to the soul. A commonly known phrase is used in the nation when action is not taken at all after thought: “it’s the thought that counts.” But is it really only the thought that counts? Emerson makes a valid point when he suggests that “action is essential, inaction is cowardice, and that there cannot be a scholar without a heroic mind.” However, physical action is just as necessary and fundamental as internal action with thought. As Henry David Thoreau himself states, “If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under