I want you to have the opportunity to read excerpts from Thoreau’s essay, but I also am giving you the option of listening to the entire essay in an audio file that I am providing for you.
The following is an excerpt from the text of Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government”: “Resistance to Civil Government”.” (Links to an external site.)
The following is a complete audio recording of Thoreau’s “Resistance to Civil Government”: Audio Recording (Links to an external site.).
After you have read or listened to Thoreau’s essay, you will see that Thoreau refuses to support the government’s war with Mexico or to support the government’s allowance of slavery. He protests against both for what he believes are immoral actions of his government not by participating in mass protests or by petitioning his representatives but by simply refusing to pay his taxes. He is willing to accept the consequences for breaking the government’s laws; he is put in jail and remains overnight. He would have had to stay longer if a relative had not paid his taxes for him.
I don’t believe any one of us would argue that Thoreau in not conforming to what he believed was wrong is similar to Melville’s fictional character, Bartleby. Most of us would respect Thoreau for standing up for what he believed in even if we might take other actions to show our displeasure and anger than not paying our taxes. We most likely would participate in large protests even though Thoreau believed the fastest way to change the government was to deprive it of what it required to operate–namely, money.
For your last essay, I want you to write an essay of 1500 words in which you answer two questions: (1) What issue is some people so strongly against that they are willing to fight for it whether they represent a minority opinion or not? In other words, like Thoreau these people are willing to do what they have to do in order to remedy the problem and are willing to accept the consequences if there are any. (2) What issue is some people so strongly against that they are also willing to fight for it, but like Bartleby they are merely fighting for something that is ultimately wrong? They too might be willing to accept the consequences if there are any, but we don’t respect them for their irrational stand.
You should select only one issue for the first question and only one issue for the second question. I am requiring that you limit your discussion to only one issue per question because doing so will allow you to delve far more deeply into each issue than if you were discussing several issues for each question. The two issues must be completely separate from one another; they cannot be two sides of the same issue.
In your essay, you must include a minimum of five quotations from Thoreau’s essay. Including quotations from Melville’s short story is optional.
To support your positions, you can include quotations from other published sources, but you must cite those sources as in-text citations as well as include them on your list of works cited. Remember that Turnitin software will determine the percentage of similarity between your ideas and the ideas of others; a relatively high percentage indicates that you have depended too heavily on others’ ideas and not enough of your own.
Be sure to write a thoughtful, well-organized essay on the topic using a formal point of view (no I pronoun).
Do not use the “you” pronoun (which one should always avoid).
Your paper uses the correct MLA heading format on each page.
Your essay contains quotes followed by the correct format for in-text citations.
Your works-cited page has the correct information for the two primary sources (“Resistance to Civil Government” and possibly “Bartleby the Scrivener”) as well as any additional sources you have used.
The two issues that you select for Essay #5 must be current issues. Do not select issues that people have dealt with in the past like the ones that Thoreau tried to end–slavery and the Mexican War. The essay is not meant to be a discussion of the past. You must choose issues that are occurring today, one issue that you agree with and respect and a second issue that you are strongly against and do not respect.
1) What issue is [present tense] some people so strongly against that they are willing to fight for it whether they represent a minority opinion or not? (2) What issue is [present tense] some people so strongly against that they are also willing to fight for it, but like Bartleby they are merely fighting for something that is ultimately wrong? They too might be willing to accept the consequences if there are any, but we don’t respect them for their irrational stand.
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