Thoreau: Civil Disobedience

I must say, this was probably the toughest reading to date!! I was lost, literally, from the first paragraph, but I digress. From what I DID understand about Henry Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, he was a man that believed that the best type of government is one that “governs the least”, and doesn’t seek tremendous power over its people. Clearly, he has a lot of critical things to say about the American government, some legitimate, yet some unreasonable.


One thing I did somewhat agree with Thoreau about was his outlook on people disagreeing with the government. Frankly, he believed that if a citizen doesn’t agree with something the government is doing, or a decision they make, they should outright rebel against it. This, I can understand, and even agree with; maybe not to the extent that HE talked about, but to some extent. If someone doesn’t agree with something that the government is doing, they should definitely stand up and be heard about it; however, he just took it too far with some of his suggestions. He went on to say, “A wise man will only be useful as a man and will not submit to be “clay” and “stop a hole to keep the wind away…” Basically, I understood that as saying no person should live whole-heartedly by the rules and policies their government sets. This, however, is where he started to lose me!! With that type of attitude in today’s society, you’re bound to end up in jail, which is a place I’m not trying to go!!


While I realize I only discussed a snippet of some of Thoreau’s viewpoints, I came to the conclusion that he was incredibly radical and, for lack of a better word, crazy, early into this reading. Then again, I was confused, so maybe I didn’t understand him; either way, it is what it is!!