What literary devices are used in Civil Disobedience?

The rhetorical devices that have the most impact on the reader in Thoreau’s essay are allusions, rhetorical questions, pathos, imagery, and chronological narrative.

What are the main points in Civil Disobedience?

In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau’s basic premise is that a higher law than civil law demands the obedience of the individual. Human law and government are subordinate. In cases where the two are at odds with one another, the individual must follow his conscience and, if necessary, disregard human law.

What kind of text is Civil Disobedience?

Resistance to Civil Government, also called On the Duty of Civil Disobedience or Civil Disobedience for short, is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849.

How does Thoreau use Paradox?

Thoreau’s paradox suggests that freedom is a state of mind and an expression of principles, and therefore unrelated to physical confinement. This paradox subverts our typical assumptions about law-abiding behavior: by obeying the law, we avoid paying the penalty for disobeying it.

What metaphors does Thoreau use in civil disobedience?

Thoreau’s metaphor for the government in “Civil Disobedience” is a machine. Just like a machine, the government has problems that can cause it to break, like friction within its structure.

What does Thoreau mean by wooden men?

In this way, Thoreau also develops the central idea of ethics by criticizing those who do not make decisions based on their own consciences, suggesting that such people could be replaced by “wooden men” or people made from “straw or a lump of dirt” (part 1, par. 5).

What is the tone of civil disobedience?

The tone of Thoreau’s essays and addresses is of a person who wants to persuade and motivate his audience. He frequently strikes an indignant stance which sometimes rises to an angry tone on issues he seems passionate about, such as the abolition of slavery.

What paradox does Thoreau develop?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…” Aphorism- Thoreau wanted to enlighten himself. Thoreau is using a paradox to illustrate that technology controls society. This is a self-contradictory statement because a train cannot ride upon its passengers.