"Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau - October 30, 2006
Write a response to the excerpt that you read from "Civil Disobedience" by Henry David Thoreau. What is Thoreau's main theme or message? How is Thoreau's writing different from Emerson's? Find one thing that you agree with in this excerpt and one thing that you do NOT agree with. Justify your answers.
posted by Jenni Vega | 10:03 AM
1 Comments:
Henry David Thoreau's position is the same basic position as Emmerson's. Emmerson says that the only way to achieve higher knowledge is to look within yourself. However, Thoreau takes the position a step further by saying that the government is in the way of higher knowledge because of their rules and restrictions that apply to all men. He suggests that the masses correct this problem by overthrowing the government. I don't understand this position because it assumes that the government isn't "looking within themselves" to make the rules that they do make. If this is in fact true than their view is that their rules should apply to everyone. They have the power to enforce this view and therefore have every right to it. Emmerson's view may be that there should be no government but since he does not have the power to enforce such a view, it can't apply to the government. I agree that the government makes mistakes and occasionally does hold people back. However, the government does much more good than harm and we would be worse off without it especially if the replacement was a different set of rules for every individual.
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