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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 3 page essay that discusses Henry David Thoreau’s famous essay “Civil Disobedience,” in which Thoreau describes in detail what his one night incarcerated in his village’s jail was like. All-in-all the description conveys an experience that was not unpleasant. The question arises as to why Thoreau includes this description as the experience is almost secondary to the point of his essay, which is Thoreau’s objection to federal policies at that time. A close examination of the essay reveals the purpose that this description fulfills and its contribution to Thoreau’s overall theme. No further sources are cited.
Page Count:
3 pages (~225 words per page)
File: D0_khthjail.rtf
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Unformatted sample text from the term paper:
All-in-all the description conveys an experience that was not unpleasant. The question arises as to why Thoreau includes this description as the experience is almost secondary to the point
of his essay, which is Thoreaus objection to federal policies at that time. A close examination of the essay reveals the purpose that this description fulfills and its contribution to
Thoreaus overall theme. In paragraph 31, Thoreau describes how the experience of incarceration offered him a different perspective on life in his village. He says it was like "traveling
into a far country ...to lie there for one night" (Thoreau para. 31). In conveying how acutely his senses were attuned to the sounds of the village, Thoreau conveys his
perception, which sees his everyday environment as analogous to a village in the Middle Ages. He writes that the experience afforded him "a closer view of my native town" (Thoreau
para. 31). In other words, the experience of being in jail separated Thoreau both physically and mentally from the boundaries of his everyday existence, placing outside of that society. Thoreau
indicates that this broadened the scope of his understanding, allowing him more objectivity and he began "to comprehend what its inhabitants were about" (Thoreau para. 31). Thoreau uses this
new found perception to inform his discussion of why he was in jail in the first place. Thoreau objected to the fact that slavery was still sanctioned by government and,
also, he objected to war that the US was fighting against Mexico. While Thoreau acknowledges in his essay that it is beyond the power of the typical citizen to rectify
these wrongs, he argues that people should refuse to support injustice and should provide resistance to government policies that they deem to be unjust. Thoreaus form of resistance was to
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