Analysis+of+Part+III

N.Plascencia and K.Wilson


//Thoreau argues that a utopian government is one that has the complete support from all of it's citizens and allows the occupying individuals to choose whether or not to partake in citizenship.// Civil Disobedience Part III- Per. 4 Commentary 1

This passage is a narrative about Thoreau’s rebellion against government. It is interrupted by Thoreau's opinions about government with random, run-on tangents. Here is an example: //"When I came out of prison — for some one interfered, and paid that tax — I did not perceive that great changes had taken place on the common, such as he observed who went in a youth and emerged a tottering and gray-headed man; and yet a change had to my eyes come over the scene — the town, and State, and country — greater than any that mere time could effect."// The effect of this runon-like sentence structure is to show that there is not one clean-cut, descisive way to describe our government; there is no clear way to describe it.
 * Organization**

Thoreau uses persuasion through a logical appeal by saying that a government "must have the sanction and consent of the governed." This means that the government should make all decisions and actions based on the will of the people, not just what they want to do. The reader can definitely fall into the logical fallacy that a government’s actions are //only// good if approved by it’s citizens. An example of a government doing good without the consent of all it’s people was when Teddy Roosavelt set aside the vast amounts of acrage for national forests.

Do you agree or disagree that the government can only do well if in consent with the people? Civil Disobedience Part III- Per. 4 Commentary 2

The mood is deragatory towards the government and it's functions. The tone is also negative and a bit pessimistic; it lightens up at the end of the work when fantasizing about a possible utopian future. An example is: //"Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further towards recognizing and organizing the rights of man?"// Thoreau questions the legitimacy of government: he asks if democracy is the extent to which our government can grow, or if we can improve even further upon democracy? Thoreau believes that we can improve, hence his quote above, in which he envisions a Utopian government even better than democracy.
 * Tone and Mood**

Civil Disobedience Part III- Per. 4 Commentary 3

-The word choice of Civil Disobedience Part 3 is rather scholarly and abstract, however it is put together in a manner of sophistication.
 * Language and Style**

“This, then, is my position at present. But one cannot be too much on his guard in such a case, lest his action be biased by obstinacy or an undue regard for the opinions of men. Let him see that he does only what belongs to himself and to the hour.”

Rather than simply stating his position, Thoreau goes on to give his detailed view on this subject with supporting evidence upon why he does so.

-Thoreau uses logical appeal to captivate the reader by visualizing and understanding his point of view. Throughout this section, he is describing the personal times in which he established a role in civil disobedience, specifically recounting his experience in jail.

“You do not resist cold and hunger, the winds and the waves, thus obstinately; you quietly submit to a thousand similar necessities. You do not put your head into the fire.”

“It was like traveling into a far country, such as I had never expected to behold, to lie there for one night. It seemed to me that I never had heard the town-clock strike before, nor the evening sounds of the village.”

Here, Thoreau allows the reader to interpret the feeling in which he endures. Rather than saying why it’s as though he is leaving the reader with an open invitation to imagine what he went through while being in jail.

-In Part 3, Thoreau uses a metaphor to convey a deep thought in which he tries to explain the value in standing up to authorities and law for what one believes so powerfully in.

“They who know of no purer sources of truth, who have traced up its stream no higher, stand, and wisely stand, by the Bible and the Constitution, and drink at it there with reverence and humility; but they who behold where it comes trickling into this lake or that pool, gird up their loins once more, and continue their pilgrimage toward its fountain-head.”

Thoreau is using this metaphor to explain his personal view on how someone who does not know of any other way to be a pure human being in society and is consciously blinded by the wrongs of government. With this, he is comparing them to one who does know of higher law and understands the morals of life and how to be a better person, by climbing to the top above the indecencies of the state.

“A State which bore this kind of fruit, and suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened, would prepare the way for a still more perfect and glorious State, which also I have imagined, but not yet anywhere seen.”

Again, Thoreau uses a metaphor to convey to the reader his desire for a just government. The words suffered it to drop off as fast as it ripened” can symbolize the way in which the government of a state can still be dutiful without being morally imperfect. To close his statement, Thoreau mentions how he has yet to see a government of this sort; one that is specifically providing justice for its citizens if our nation is a true democracy. -The literary devices of sound include the flow of Thoreau’s writing. He uses a form of consonance in that all of the words he uses mesh together as links in a chain to form an overall powerful point Along with this, the writing has some sort of rhythm, allowing the reader to be fully aware of the facts without being bored by straight facts. Civil Disobedience Part III- Per. 4 Commentary 4


 * Sentences**:

-Most of Thoreau’s sentences are longer to give the long run on of a special effect for pounding his point into the minds of the reader.

-Others are occasionally shorter to give the straight-up fact effect.

-Most of the sentences are compound-complex.

-He uses his sentence variety throughout the entire writing. He makes his points in a way where the reader must interpret what he is saying very specifically.

-Many of his sentences tend to use polysyndeton in that they keep going for long periods of time, separated by commas.

-Because this is written in the first person, almost every paragraph begins with “I believe” or “I know”, demonstrating his individuality from society (symbolically).

-Based on sentence structure, it’s as though he separates himself from all citizens around him to show his uniqueness with views of the government as an evil casted upon by satin himself.

Thoreau’s best-worded phrases include:

-“I know that most men think differently from myself; but those whose lives are by profession devoted to the study of these or kindred subjects, content me as little as any.”

-“I pumped my fellow-prisoner as dry as I could, for fear I should never see him again; but at length he showed me which was my bed, and left me to blow out the lamp.”

-“…I quietly declare war with the State, after my fashion, though I will still make what use and get what advantage of her I can, as is usual in such cases.” Civil Disobedience Part III- Per. 4 Commentary 5

WORKS CITIED:

 * 1) Thoreau, Henry David . "Civil Disobedience." III1849 20 Mar 2008 .
 * 2) Bannon, Alicia. //SparkNote on Civil Disobedience//. 27 Mar. 2008 .