Rhetorical Analysis Of Civil Disobedience

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Henry David Thoreau argues “That government is best which governs least…That government is best which governs not at all” (1) as the first statement in his essay Civil Disobedience. They have thoroughly stated Thoreau’s attitude towards the idea of government and he later expresses more in the essay. Thoreau is a prominent American poet, philosopher, essayist, and lifelong abolitionist during the 19th century. As the supporter of Transcendentalism movement, he publishes many works to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at that time. His essay Civil Disobedience is one of his famous works to stand up for the ideas of prioritizing people’s conscience and ability of thinking before the policies of government, denouncing the corrupted United States government, and criticizing American social institutions and …show more content…

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I was put into a jail once on this account, for one night… I could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if I were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up… As they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body” (8).
By this narration of living in jail, he wants the readers to feel pity on his situation and disgusts with government. For instance, he emphasizes how bad the prison guards treat him; there is no any respect to him as a human being and they punish him physically. Overall, Thoreau skillfully uses pathos as a great tool to awaken the audience’s conscience and ability of thinking. .
By proving his credibility and reliability to the readers, Thoreau wields ethos to strengthen the persuasiveness of his essay. For example, in the third paragraph of part 2, he

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