Questions on civil disobedience

Download the handout: "'Civil Disobedience' questions" and save to your computer. You will compose your answers in the document and then upload your assignment.

Follow these links to the material needed to answer each question:

Thoreau's Nonchalance http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/nonfiction/autho... in "On the Duty of Civil Disobedience"
Rhetorical Questions http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/cpace/nonfiction... in "Civil Disobedience"
Thoreau's Wordplay http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/nonfiction/autho... in "Civil Disobedience"
The Machine of Government http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/nonfiction/autho...
Thoreau in Prison http://www.cyberartsweb.org/cpace/nonfiction/autho...

English III: “Civil Disobedience” Rhetoric and Analysis Directions: Download and save this document to your computer. After using the links on the assignment page to review the information on the on the website The Victorian Web, compose your answers in the space provided. The boxes will expand as you type. Your answers should be in the form of one or more paragraphs. Be sure to address all the facets of each question. When you are finished, save your work and submit to your instructor. 1. Thoreau’s Nonchalance in “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” Thoreau presents prison in a relatively positive light. Is this representation convincing? Why might he have chosen to emphasize the good qualities of prison? Why might Thoreau have wanted to take on this unaffected and naïve persona that comes though in his writing? What does it do for his overall argument in the essay? 2. Rhetorical Questions in “Civil Disobedience” How does the use of the device of the rhetorical question differ in these two instances? Do the questions motivate different responses in the reader? Is this an effective device? Would Thoreau's argument have been better served, especially in the second passage, by replacing the questions with statements of fact? What is gained, rhythmically and tonally, by grouping questions together in this manner? 3. Thoreau’s Wordplay in “Civil Disobedience” Does Thoreau's manipulation of language work to his advantage? If so, how? Does his wordplay establish tighter links in his argument or does it actually convolute it and make it more confusing? 4. The Machine of Government Rather than demonizing the American government, Thoreau strips it of agency (“It has not the vitality and force of a single living man” and “It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate.”) How does the way he portrays the government affect what he sees as a citizen’s duty in stopping injustice? What is the function of comparing the government to a machine? Is the metaphor effective? What are the implications of the metaphor? Throughout the essay, Thoreau employs a technique common to sage-writers, alternating between first and second person. A clear example of this is when he abruptly switches from a series of commands (“Let it go,” “break the law,” “let your life be a counter-friction”) to a firstperson statement: “What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.” Specifically, do you see this move as an example where Thoreau places himself above his reader in a position of moral authority? 5. Thoreau in Prison In this passage