1. Thoreau wrote this piece so he can tell people that the government has no authority over the people, if the government goes against the wishes of the people. Thoreau starts out with what he wants to see in the government, which is more power to the people. He then goes on supporting his idea by talking about his opposition to slavery. Because the people have the power in the government, they can rebel against it if the government does not follow what the people want.
2. This novel s a call for limited government. A government in which the individual has a conscious that will cause him to act in the self -interest of others. A majority form of government is one where the people's self interests are halted for individual success. Therefore this causes the government to be unbalanced in decision making so the people have the right to rebel against a government which does not promote the people
3. The author's tone is very matter of fact because he is trying to make a point about he government. At times, it is harsh because Thoreau is being critical of the government. The author wants to explicate that government is not a government without its people. It must be limited and have the consent of the governed, or the people can rebel against it.
"That government is best which governs least"
"Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience?"
It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it. The progress from an absolute to a limited monarchy, from a limited monarchy to a democracy, is a progress toward a true respect for the individual.""
4.Allusion- Alludes to the Mexican American War "Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure." p.85
Metaphor- "The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. " p.85
Rhetorical Question- "Why do they not dissolve it themselves- the union between themselves and the State- and refuse to pay their quota into its treasury? Do not they stand in the same relation to the State that the State does to the Union? And have not the same reasons prevented the State from resisting the Union which have prevented them from resisting the State?" p.91
Fallacy- "After all, the practical reason why, when the power is once in the hands of the people, a majority are permitted, and for a long period continue, to rule is not because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest. But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it. " p.86
Red Herring- " This, according to Paley, would be inconvenient. But he that would save his life, in such a case, shall lose it. This people must cease to hold slaves, and to make war on Mexico, though it cost them their existence as a people. " p.88
Metaphor- "All voting is a sort of gaming, like checkers or backgammon, with a slight moral tinge to it, a playing with right and wrong, with moral questions; and betting naturally accompanies it." p.89
Motif- government is bad "'That government is best which governs least'; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe- 'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have.' p.85
Simile- ". They have the same sort of worth only as horses and dogs." p.90
Anecdote- " My civil neighbor, the tax-gatherer, is the very man I have to deal with- for it is, after all, with men and not with parchment that I quarrel- and he has voluntarily chosen to be an agent of the government. How shall he ever know well what he is and does as an officer of the government, or as a man, until he is obliged to consider whether he shall treat me, his neighbor, for whom he has respect, as a neighbor and well-disposed man, or as a maniac and disturber of the peace, and see if he can get over this obstruction to his neighborliness without a ruder and more impetuous thought or speech corresponding with his action."p.93
CHARACTERIZATION
1. I can't do this part because Civil Disobedience is a rhetorical piece in which the author explicates his ideas through an essay not a story so there are no characters.
2. The author mainly uses a highly educated level of syntax and diction. He does this in order to make his idea seem elaborate and not under-valued in places such as universities. Plus, the people who will be able to act and change the government will probably have some level of education so this document would appeal to those people.
3. Refer to #1.
4. After reading the book, I felt like I had come away knowing a person because Thoreau is explicitly stating his ideas, so you can see his personality in those ideas. "Practically speaking, the opponents to a reform in Massachusetts are not a hundred thousand politicians at the South, but a hundred thousand merchants and farmers here, who are more interested in commerce and agriculture than they are in humanity, and are not prepared to do justice to the slave and to Mexico, cost what it may." Thoreau is an opponent against slavery in a time where it's really prevalent so this excerpt represents him as a maverick in society. Throughout the piece, he is also very fervid in his passion for the right of an individual which is probably why he hates the government so much.
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