Thoreau's Essay essay topics

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  • Thoreau Chastises The Government
    413 words
    In "Civil Disobedience", why does Thoreau refuse to pay his poll tax? In Thoreau's essay "Resistance to Civil Government", Henry David Thoreau outlines a utopian society in which each individual would be responsible for governing himself. His opposition to a centralized government is an effort to disassociate with the American government, which at the time was supporting slavery and unjustly invading Mexico. While the individual rule would work well for Thoreau who is a man of conscience, it doe...
  • Very Strong Argument For John Brown
    535 words
    After reading A Plea for Captain John Brown, I find it hard to decide which side to take. Knowing a little history about the subject, I originally sided against the Captain, but by reading Thoreau's essay, I am swayed the other way. He makes a very strong argument for John Brown and probably persuaded many people at the time of his writing. I look at what John Brown did and the first thing that comes to my mind is that it is illegal. I think many people probably looked at the situation and thoug...
  • Response To Civil Disobedience By Henry David Thoreau
    966 words
    Henry David Thoreau's well-publicized essay, "Civil Disobedience", has been a prized piece of literature in the hearts of many famous Americans and other leaders. Great political figures, such as Mohandas K. Gandhi and John F. Kennedy, have used Thoreau's essay calling for the reform of government to their advantage when speaking to their fellow countrymen. Writing in response to the United States annexation of Texas in 1845, Thoreau felt that this economic move by the United States expedited th...
  • Relationship Between Emerson And Thoreau
    850 words
    'Dance to the beat of your own drummer:' ; A piece of advice that I have been told my whole life, and have tried my hardest to follow. The words were taken from Thoreau's quote, 'If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. ' ; Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau changed our lives. How? Well, the answer is not so simple as the statement. To understand fully how they affected our lives, we have to understand the philosophy of Emerson...
  • Thoreau About The Evils Of Slavery
    4,492 words
    Summary Thoreau begins Civil Disobedience by saying that he agrees with the motto, "That government is best which governs least". Indeed, he says, men will someday be able to have a government that does not govern at all. As it is, government rarely proves useful or efficient. It is often "abused and perverted" so that it no longer represents the will of the people. The "javascript: CharacterWindow The American government is necessary because "the people must have some complicated machinery or o...
  • Will Of The Government
    964 words
    In a concise essay, Thoreau proffers a challenge to all men, "not to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right". Over and over, almost redundantly, Thoreau stresses simplicity and individualism, as most transcendentalists (the new philosophical and literary movement of Thoreau's time) did. Thoreau clearly states, in his On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, that the government is unjust and doesn't represent the will of the people, that one man can't change the government, and that ...
  • Crito And Civil Disobedience
    539 words
    Having read both Crito and Civil Disobedience there are several conspicuous similarities as well as notable differences. Both of these documents deal with the government and how the people should view it. However, in Crito, Socrates is more devoted to the government and would uphold its decisions even if it cost him his life. Thoreau on the other hand believes that the government is not always right and it is up to the people to criticize it so that it can be improved. Both of these essays were ...
  • Compare And Contrast Emerson And Thoreau
    624 words
    Online Essay Compare and Contrast Thoreau and Emerson There exist many philosophies by which many people live their lives. Emerson and Thoreau are perfect example of this. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both nineteenth century writers who express a philosophy of life based on our inner self. I will examine various philosophies as they relate to Emerson and Thoreau's attitude toward the man's plight toward existence and independence. Both authors share same transcendentalism vie...

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