Many prominent political figures have spoken out against violence; among them are Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., and the Dalai Lama. Instead of choosing physical brutality, they chose to follow difficult, winding paths full of powerful speeches, civil disobedience, and peaceful protests. These non-violent ideals have led leaders like Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. to achieve goals in ways government leaders and thinkers previously thought to be impossible. Different literary works like The Night Thoreau spent in Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Walden by Henry Thoreau, and Letter from Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr., show efforts of these leaders through Thoreau’s stand against the Mexican War and opinion of life in Walden, as well as Martin Luther King’s peaceful protests.
Thoreau’s night in jail proves that the powerful voice of one can change seemingly unalterable situations without violence. An evening others have discussed, contemplated, and criticized, it was the means for Thoreau to begin his political battle against the war in Mexico. Specifically, Thoreau refuses to pay his taxes. Believing that the funding for the Mexican war will be reduced due to his actions, Thoreau is taking a stand against the government. To him, simply helping to pay for a gun is a crime if the gun is used to kill, but the felony is made hundred times worse if the victim is innocent. Thoreau believes that the Mexicans are innocent, so when Sam Staples, his friend and tax collector says, “…But the government gets persnickety about taxes when we got a war goin’,” he just retorts, “I will not pay one copper penny to an unjust government,” (Lawrence and Lee 60). This proves that Henry feels so strongly aga...
... middle of paper ...
...ent, all of which occurs without any intentional physical harm from the protesting party. Through Martin Luther King Jr.’s extreme perseverance, non-violence was proven as a successful way to achieve political change.
The actions of Thoreau, both his reproduced and direct ones, in addition to Martin Luther King Jr.’s, advocate the peacefulness defense of one’s personal beliefs. Whether these beliefs consist of something as big as either the Mexican War or universal racial equality, or something as small as the making of a staff, they are significant decisions that affect one’s self perception. If current government leaders and corporate managers realized that their choices not only change their environments, but also transform their self-respect and morality, then maybe the Earth would not be in such a dismal state of human corruption and physical pollution.
Congressman Lewis’s powerful graphic memoir March highlights the role of nonviolent activism in challenging racial segregation and discrimination and effecting social change. Within the two books, March One and Two, we as readers see some of these nonviolent activities that were implemented by the protesters to show the world that nonviolence is the way to go to bring change in an unjust society and its bias laws. Some of these nonviolent activities that proved to be effective in the eyes of freedom fighters were sit-ins, marches and speeches. Even some minor activities such as going to jail for a cause was proven to be effective.
There are times throughout the history of the United States when its citizens have felt the need to revolt against the government. Two such cases occurred during the time of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Henry David Thoreau. Both men courageously confronted the mighty us government; both spent time in jail as a result of their defiant actions; both men stood for a belief in a better future, and both presented their dreams through non-violent protest and civil disobedience. The similarities in their course of action are undeniable, but each man used different terms on which they based their arguments. Martin Luther King Junior's appeal through the human conscience, and Henry Thoreau's excellent use of patriotism, present similar issues in very dissimilar ways.
Thoreau was against the The Mexican American War and the act of Slavery in our society and was very skeptical towards the U.S government regarding these issues. The U.S government did more to harm the citizens of America more than it did to protect them and Thoreau realized that and was not afraid to speak his mind.. The law will never make men free; it is men who have got to make the law free” Thoreau is saying that don't just wait for change to come, make the change happen. He stand for what is right regardless of the consequences, therefore, he wanted the citizens of America to be bold enough to do the same.
During the civil rights struggle in the late1950s it became apparent that those who supported segregation would go to any length in order to maintain the status quo. Until then, many whites in the 1940s believe blacks were content with the way things were (Shmoop). For the first time, the nation would come face to face to the reality of the violence that African Americans faced on a daily basis. The Brown v. Board of Education decision was a major victory for the civil rights movement. It showed momentum for desegregation in the Jim Crow south. After school integration, it was only a matter of time before Jim Crow laws would be challenged and overturned everywhere.
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.
In this short story Thoreau plays the protagonist as well as a pacifist. He continually reiterates his beliefs of law and conscience. Thoreau believes we have a conscience to determine right and wrong and views the government, at a state level at least, as useless. He gives the reader several examples of things the government does that would be against most conscious decisions. Such as: The listing of accomplishments the “government” made possible, included in this list is the repetition of the word “It” referring to the government. “It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished”(221).
In this essay I discuss Thoreau's essay Civil Disobedience. I took a counterargument approach. I found his argument to be flawed and his character lacking. I do not think there is any one answer to the big questions of the day, but advice is hard to follow from a man who lived like a hermit and did not appear to contribute to society during his time. What is amazing is that his writings did inspire some great moments in history. Martin Luther King and Gandhi both effectively used his philosophy to affect some profound changes in our society. For that we owe the man a debt of gratitude. Writing is a form of art, and the art he left behind is something people will always appreciate, even if we do not agree with the man himself.
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 Henry Thoreau’s essay, Resistance to Civil Government, the harmless actions he takes to rebel against the government are considered acts of civil disobedience. He talks about how the government acts wrongful such as, slavery and the Mexican-American war. This writing persuades Nathaniel Heatwole, a twenty-year-old college student studying at Guildford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, to take matters into his own hands, by smuggling illegal items on multiple Southwest airplanes. The reason in that being, is to show the people that our nation is unsafe and dangerous. In doing this, he takes his rebellion one step too far, by not only jeopardizing his life, but as well as many other innocent lives.
Martin Luther King and Henry David Thoreau each write exemplary persuasive essays that depict social injustice and discuss civil disobedience, which is the refusal to comply with the law in order to prove a point. In his “Letter from a Birmingham Jail,” King speaks to a specific audience: the African Americans, and discusses why he feels they should bring an end to segregation. Thoreau on the other hand, in “Civil Disobedience,” speaks to a broader, non-addressed audience as he largely expresses his feelings towards what he feels is an unjust government. Both essays however, focus on the mutual topics of morality and justice and use these topics to inform and motivate their audience to, at times, defy the government in order to establish the necessary justice.
Thoreau believed that when people disobey unjust laws, that will help change the laws to make them just...
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, author, poet, abolitionist, and naturalist. He was famous for his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and his book, Walden. He believed in individual conscience and nonviolent acts of political resistance to protest unfair laws. Moreover, he valued the importance of observing nature, being individual, and living in a simple life by his own values. His writings later influenced the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. In “Civil Disobedience” and Walden, he advocated individual nonviolent resistance to the unjust state and reflected his simple living in the nature.
In his essay, “Resistance to Civil Government,” often times dubbed, “Civil Disobedience,” Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) argues against abiding to one’s State, in protest to the unjust laws within its government. Among many things, Thoreau was an American author, poet, and philosopher. He was a firm believer in the idea of civil disobedience, the act of refusing to obey certain laws of a government that are felt to be unjust. He opposed the laws regarding slavery, and did not support the Mexican-American war, believing it to be a tactic by the Southerners to spread slavery to the Southwest. To show his lack of support for the American government, he refused to pay his taxes. After spending a night in jail for his tax evasion, he became inspired to write “Civil Disobedience.” In this essay, he discusses the importance of detaching one’s self from the State and the power it holds over its people, by refraining from paying taxes and putting money into the government. The idea of allowing one’s self to be arrested in order to withhold one’s own values, rather than blindly following the mandates of the government, has inspired other civil rights activists throughout history such as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Both these men fought against unjust laws, using non-violent, yet effective, methods of protest. From these three men, we can learn the significance of detaching ourselves from the social norm; and instead, fight for our values in a non-violent way, in order to make a change in our government’s corrupt and unjust laws.
It is an undisputable fact that the contribution of such prominent philosophers, writers, political and social activists as Benjamin Franklin and Henry David Thoreau in developing American statehood is tremendous. The literary works of both men can serve as a manifesto of national and personal liberation, a call for building a better society, where each citizen can live and work freely. Indeed, both Henry Thoreau and Benjamin Franklin emphasize the independence and freedom of an individual, but they do so in significantly different ways. These differences can be linked to their different worldview, life positions, philosophies, or interests. Nevertheless, this fact cannot detract from the obvious uniqueness and importance of Thoreau’s and Franklin’s literary heritage.