Rhetorical Analysis Of Thoreau's Definition Of Freedom

Freedom. This influential idea has lead many of people march to demand their freedoms. Whether that freedom be from Great Britain or slaves owners, many of American’s have marched for their rights. What is the definition of freedom? Freedom is defined as the power to act, speak, or think as one wants without opposition. Freedom is a part part of American culture. Some may even say that America’s very foundations were built off of freedom and the right to do as we wish with our lives. In the eighteen hundreds American Colonists were feeling the pressures of the British that would soon lead the the Revolutionary War and our freedom. Some people might consider this idea of freedom as radical and possibly way ahead of it’s time back then. But it

His style of diction is the most evident then when he is released from prison. His word choice is vigorous or robustness is exemplary. Thoreau also makes his sentences at this time very lengthy and jam packed with radical ideas. The ideas are wrote down as if he was a mad man trying to make sense of the impossible. He was filled with this new passion of writing about these ideas of freedom and how man should break away from the bonds that tie them to one another. These sentences and ideas reflect on his chaotic thoughts. His diction suggests that he is simply just a man struggling to find a place for himself in our ever changing confusing world. This uncertainty about life also lead to more radical ideas and thoughts which he occasionally wrote about. Thoreau also wrote about things like his palms that characterized gossip and himself as a typical guy so to say. He expresses the idea that he can’t help what happens and that he is just a man. His vigor matches many of the more radical or rebellious poetry or literature around that time. Clearly, one of the literary devices that he uses are diction and figurative language to express many radical

Imagery can be thought of as being visually descriptive. More commonly defined as creating a word picture in literature. There are many examples of imagery in “Civil Disobedience” to describe his surroundings. He explains the setting in his jail cell and compares other things to it to convey that it really wasn’t all that awful. When most people think about jail they think that it is this horrible thing that can lock you up forever and endanger you by locking you up with other criminals. He backs up his idea that the cell wasn’t that bad to convey that it wasn’t really a punishment. He sneakily does this to persuade people to revolt to the government to get proper way of dealing with serious matters like serving time. Thoreau plays the part in the cafeteria that starts a food fight in order to get people to protest how disgusting the food is. He “eggs” on the people to take charge of their lives and the way that the government should be run. He tries to convey the idea that if it isn’t a harsh punishment or even one at all then why should they even be enforcing it? Therefore, Henry David Thoreau uses his literary powers of imagery to rally the people in