Henry David Thoreau

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Henry David Thoreau

• Resistance to Civil Government
• Or
• Civil Disobedience

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Logical Strategies
Claims Type of Evidence How does it affect the message?
1 Government is a simple tool Paragraph 1-Logos Claim of fact Simplifies the abstractness of what a government really isCreates a feeling of empowerment in the audience because they are supposed to use tools, not the other way around
2 If there is no one to question the government, then it can easily become corrupt Paragraph 4-Pathos Claim of value/policy Illustrates how government needs to focus on what is right, not only for the majority, but minority as wellReinforces the feeling that it is up to the individual to stand up for change rather than rely on othersmotivating
3 Government needs to be just Paragraph 25-Pathos Claim of value/policy Makes concrete the reward that will be achieved when government reflects the needs of all of its individualsHopeful tone is idealistic and encouragingleaving the audience empowered and motivated
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Logical Strategies (cont.)
Counterargument Refutation How does it affect the message?
1 Government can do good things (Paragraph 2) The people in the government are who really do the great things Clarifies his view as to where the value should be placedon the individual
2 He wants no government (Paragraph 3) He wants a better government Believes that the government should reflect the conscientious will of everyone, not only the majority
3 Webster, a prominent lawyer, says that the government needs to be preserved as it was originally designed (Paragraph 24) Webster is not following the spirit of the founding forefathers, but rather simply a beauracratic follower Makes the point that someone who only talks about the way things are isnt really helpingby not actively fighting against injustice, the audience is inadvertently supporting it (Also Paragraph 12paying taxes)
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Content Frame
Device Text Example Thematic Connection/Analysis of Effect
Personification The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. (1) Engages the audience with a concept they feel comfortablethen goes on to dehumanize the government to serve his purpose logos
Irony I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmenI did not for a moment feel confined (14) Heightens the sense of righteousness the audience feels for the speaker in the certitude of his actions pathos/ethos
Simile (the State) Timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons (14) Solidifies his comparison that the majority is a bully motivating the audience by highlighting the injustice of the governments actions to the individual pathos
Allusion Render therefore to Caesar that which is Caesars (13) Empowers the individual to choose to stand within the political system they live in and acquiesce to or stand up against the unjust system to maintain the integrity of their soul pathos
Chiasmus what is once well done is done forever. (11) Motivates and empowers the audience to feel confident that when a just action is done, no matter how small, it is effective and essential to the progress of society logos/pathos
Anti-thesis Under a government which imprisons unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison. (12) Shocks yet reaffirms the audience in feeling that they cannot serve a system that is unjust also provides a plan for the audience inbeing civilly disobedient logos/pathos
Hyperbole if one thousand, if one hundred, if tenif one HONEST man (11) The audience feels supported by the confidence that even if they are alone in their action, they are being just and right pathos
Metaphor when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by sideboth obey their own laws (15) Transcendental belief that clarifies how the individual should not bow down to the governmentagain this encourages the audience by taking an abstract concept and making it concrete logos
Repetition It not only divided States and churches, it divides families ay, it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from the divine. (8) The audience feels challenged by not giving in to complacencyaction must come from principle, not be separated logos/pathos
Maxim That government is best which governs least (1) Allusion reminds the audience of their duty as a citizen pathos
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Venn Diagram 1
Thoreau Both Emerson
Chiasmus Loose syntax Focuses on improving government Tone is critical and daring Short-medium syntax Personification, metaphor, allusion, maxim Formal/colloquial diction Self-Reliant focused on the individual Periodic Doesnt mention government Focuses more broadly on the individual Non-confrontational fatherly
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Venn Diagram 2
Thoreau Both King
Against slavery/ US-Mexican War Uses colloquial diction Loose sentences Chiasmus, rhetorical questions Doesnt pay taxes as his Civil Disobedience Coach-like, challenging tone Just/Unjust laws Feel the Minority/Majority should be treated the same Action is needed now Short, Medium, Loose syntax low diction for claims Long syntax for support Accept physical pain to emphasize injustice Take morally right action over laws created by man Tension/Friction important to causing change Going to jail calls attention to injustice Against the discrimination of segregation/Jim Crow Laws Uses formal diction Periodic sentences Uses metaphor, alliteration, antithesis, repetition Demonstrated through marches, sit-ins as Civil Disobedience Fatherly, disappointed (or reassuring) tone