Preview

Civil Disobedience Rhetorical Analysis

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
729 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Civil Disobedience Rhetorical Analysis
Civil Disobedience is an insightful peaceful and in many cases more effective than simple violence at addressing ills in society. If one wishes to partake in civil disobedience they must follow three rules or steps, one they must identify an ill in society usually involving governmental oppression. second they need to break said laws or or rules they see ill. And thirdly and possibly most important they must accept all punishment without retaliation or resistance. Another major factor in civil disobedience is the ability for one to gain followers who believe in and will sacrifice themselves for the cause. The tools people use to convince other to follow or believe them are called the tools of rhetoric. Rhetoric users convince other by using …show more content…
transcendentalism is the idea of an a universal I that resides in all of us, It allows us to “know the good” and is seen even as god or the all sol. In Thoreau’s essay on Civil disobedience he outlines a very negative view on governments And his own the united states. He states that they do more harm than good. He also says that instead of merely abiding by an unjust law we should break it. Could you imagine if Thoreau could have posted his essay on multiple sites to educate people on large scale. People would read his essay and they would start to think and realize that civil disobedience is effective and totally necessary when something is wrong with society. Those same people would be much more likely to join a movement and thus make it more effective. “I was not designed to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest” Thoreau says this powerful quote directed towards his government. It shows that when you accept and breathe to your own fashion you are always …show more content…
And as a result believe that civil disobedience would be ineffective today because we are simply unable to convey our views and gain followers to our cause. When in fact the opposite is true Never in our history have been so able to seek information and share it. People are also still very social And would have no problem sharing a plan to peacefully protest. The internet opens so many doors to people who need gain followers. For example the terrorist group isis does most of its recruiting on social media. If someone were to create a group on social media to peacefully protest a law or ill in society and enough people caught on it would spread like wildfire. People all over the world would be able to join and make the movement more legitimate. Civil Disobedience would be practical and effective today because communication to huge amounts of people is extremely easy and accessible to

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Henry David Thoreau takes the motto "A government that governs least governs best" (1) to heart in his essay "Civil Disobedience". Throughout his controversial masterpiece, Thoreau criticizes the government for having too much power and interfering with the American population, but he also blames the governed for mindlessly obeying any law that is passed. Thoreau uses countless literary devices in order to make the touchy opinions presented in "Civil Disobedience" easier to understand and more convincing. Through use of innumerable similes and metaphors, Thoreau makes his arguments and ideas easier to understand, and effectively convinces anyone who reads his essay that the government is "each instant losing some of its integrity" (1), and that it should be done away with immediately.…

    • 396 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Civil Disobedience is the refusal to comply with certain laws or to pay taxes and fines, as a peaceful form of political protest. The action of Civil Disobedience is usually, not always though, classified as being not violent resistance. Also, it may be compared as compassion of respectable disagreement.…

    • 462 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Civil Disobedience” by Henry Thoreau warns its readers that we are at the mercy of our government and have no power as a minority that conforms to the majority, which represses our desire to resist the wrongs we believe in without the support of the masses. The place for an honorable, just man is within prison, which he explains through his personal experience. In part 1, Thoreau exposes how the government is without a conscience, susceptible to corruption for their own advantage, and are served not by men but by “machines” (5). We are left “to the mercy of chance” under the power of the majority. Part 2 explains that Thoreau didn’t believe in the voting system so would not pay poll tax, and was sent to jail only to find that he felt more…

    • 204 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry David Thoreau sets the tone throughout the document "On Duty of Civil Disobedience" by maintaining a very serious tone. Thoreau states his opinions regarding how the United States government should be run. He also points out how unjust occurrences and regulations stifle the minds of the US citizens.…

    • 624 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “But, to speak practically and as a citizen unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it (Thoreau) ”…

    • 669 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Some synonyms of the word ‘government’ include: ‘authority’, ‘regime’, and ‘leadership’. Now simply replace those words with: ‘manipulative’, ‘prejudicial’, and ‘corrupt’ and there lies the Thoreau’s startling precept about our government. In Henry Thoreau’s From Civil Disobedience, modern government and its regime are questioned— highlighting its inherent ineffective praxis. Though flaws in the government systems are alluded to, Thoreau declares that he is not in favour of the government being eradicated per say, just improved. Society however, are called to realize that—even if the government is deemed ‘better’— there are ‘congenital’ defects of such an omnipresent and invasive authoritative body. Thoreau brilliantly uses diction, tone,…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Transcendentalists are believed to go above and beyond and be independent. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both stress that transcendentalism is all about individualism. According to Emerson, the main idea of transcendentalism is to withdraw from society: “To believe you own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men(that is genius” (185). Emerson focuses on following the heart. Similarly, Thoreau relied on civil disobedience. He wanted people to stand out and take charge: “For it matters not how small the beginning may seem to be: what is once well done is done forever” (193). He is saying that it takes one person to stand up…

    • 618 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The idea of civil disobedience brings much controversy when it’s being discussed. Many distinctive perceptions have been made regarding the topic, but a substantial amount of people have seen Henry David Thoreau’s assumption in his essay, Civil Disobedience. In his essay, Thoreau theorized, “That government is best which governs least.” The population of the United States is politically divided due to the fact that different groups and cultures of people have conflicting viewpoints on topics like these. Some of the population agrees with Thoreau, that there should be a more just government that what exists. Recently, there has been an uprising in the nation due to a protest made by a football team. Many people of America are debating the meaning…

    • 299 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Thoreau has had a large impact on American culture and society since he was alive, his writings and beliefs are very indicative of the way many people feel about the government today. He was very cynical towards the government and the belief that the government should not have more power than necessary. Thoreau believed that people should be able to make their own decisions and take ahold of their beliefs in order to live their lives unrestricted. This has come to be the thought of many Americans today, many believe that the government should have limited power and not be allowed to make decisions for its citizens. One of Thoreau’s main issues is the Mexican-American War, is he…

    • 547 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    To be considered ethical you must act in a way that harm is minimized. To be considered moral you must do what is considered to be “right”. I believe that in both cases it is a judgment call. What is moral or ethical to one may not be to another. In his writing of Civil Disobedience, Henry David Thoreau focusses on his views of the government and how he believed it to be unjust and unfair. Ethics and morality come to question throughout his writing. Thoreau talks of the laws being established by the majority and that those who stood up for a change were the minority. Thoreau points out, “Unjust laws exist: Shall we be content to obey them or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall…

    • 1274 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    The debate was thrust into a hotbed of discussion during the peak of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. In 1964, Morris I. Leibman was an avid anti-civil disobedience activist. He argued that there is no reason for any citizen to find an excuse to break the law because when people agree to enter society, they accept the rules that society establishes. Once you break these laws, there is no purpose to society existing in the first place. He argues that if you give leeway to certain circumstances in the law, where do you draw the line? In his mind, civil disobedience is deplorable and believes it’s the wrong way to create change. Continuing with this train of thought, Herbert Storing argued that civil disobedience would likely die out because of its irrelevance to today’s problems. He found it’s attempt to combine revolution and conventional political action into one as a blend of ideas ineffective in its approach for change. Both of these men wrote their responses to civil disobedience at the height of the Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. and both agreed that black people deserved equal opportunity under the law, but they felt that civil disobedience was a regressive tactic…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Although in our society we are good at civil disobediences. This year, 2016, was an election year for president. Donald Trump unexpectedly won and many were outraged. A lot of people protested “He’s not my president” but many of the protests were peaceful. Even America's most elite are peacefully protesting for example Shailene Woodley. She was arrested for trespassing while peacefully protesting for a pipeline not to go into missouri river. The Standing Rock Sioux tribe was protesting pipes will disrupt ancient burial grounds and affect the tribe's water supply (Shailene Woodley). Although not all are protests in america are peaceful, that doesn’t discourage the fact that we do have civil disobedience. A transcendentalist would be proud by this. As said in the essay “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, “Disobedience is the true foundation of liberty. The obedient must be slaves.” (Thoreau 213). Thoreau is saying that the reason why we have American and our liberty is because of disobedience, our revolution against Great Britain is our disobedience. Thoreau is an advocate for civil disobedience and why transcendentalists, such as Thoreau, would be proud of…

    • 897 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    How can disobeying ever be civil? Civil disobedience is not and will never be truly peaceful. If you look at some of the cases in history which started out as civil disobedience such as the French Revolution may I remind you of what resulted from that, thousands and thousands of deaths, some of maybe innocent people! Especially in our society, where people tend to turn to violent actions, will civil disobedience ever truly be peaceful? Or will it just be the door way to revolt and chaos. This is the question you must ask yourself while contemplating if it is just or not. All I have to say to you is, what has resulted from your own experiences of disobedience, because if they have resulted in reward than you can get back to me. It is no secret that America is a perfect society, but that should not compel the citizens to respond in civil…

    • 1218 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Civil disobedience to me means a group or an individuals protesting or blocking a civil action against the government. To me I personally been in a situation where I was involved in a dispute. At the time I was attending Harris Stowe State University and the university was celebrating Dr. Martin Luther King Jr like they do for the past 15 years and during the time of the ceremony it was the whole issue of the Michael Brown case. So there were angry protestors that marched on campus grounds as well as me and a group of students were coming back from community service project and the angry protestors were inside the Henry Givens Auditorium as well as Mike Brown mother. The angry protestors had interrupted the program and got kicked outside of the auditorium, so they continued to stand outside with the other protestors from the MLK march and the angry group started to yell and tell me and the rest of the…

    • 499 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    Civil Disobedience

    • 1706 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Movements around the globe have stemmed from peaceful beginnings, and in the United States alone, many prominent peaceful movements have brought about some of the most prominent reforms put forth by the government. Being that no real results can be expected from mere picketing and passive proclamations from a megaphone, these demonstrations often break the law in some way, explaining where the label of disobedience comes from. Civil disobedience is an increasing practice worldwide, and it is proven to be exceptionally effective when put to the test against oppressive regimes, unjust laws, and stoic governments. It has been practiced by some of the most influential leaders of the civil rights movement in the United States such…

    • 1706 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays