1. “Resistance to Civil Government”
Henry David Thoreau
“Resistance to Civil Government” Or
“Civil Disobedience”

2. How does it affect the message?
Logical Strategies #
Claims
Type of Evidence
How does it affect the message? 1
Government is a simple tool
Paragraph 1-Logos; Claim of fact
Simplifies the abstractness of what a “government” really is…Creates a feeling of empowerment in the audience because they are supposed to use tools, not the other way around… 2
If there is no one to question the government, then it can easily become corrupt
Paragraph 4-Pathos; Claim of value/policy
Illustrates how government needs to focus on what is right, not only for the majority, but minority as well…Reinforces the feeling that it is up to the individual to stand up for change rather than rely on others…motivating 3
Government needs to be “just”
Paragraph 25-Pathos; Claim of value/policy
Makes concrete the reward that will be achieved when government reflects the needs of all of its individuals…Hopeful tone is idealistic and encouraging…leaving the audience empowered and motivated

3. Logical Strategies (cont.)#
Counterargument
Refutation
How does it affect the message? 1
Government can do good things (Paragraph 2)
The people in the government are who really do the great things
Clarifies his view as to where the value should be placed…on the individual 2
He wants no government (Paragraph 3)
He wants a better government
Believes that the government should reflect the conscientious will of everyone, not only the majority 3
Webster, a prominent lawyer, says that the government needs to be preserved as it was originally designed (Paragraph 24)
Webster is not following the spirit of the founding forefathers, but rather simply a beauracratic follower
Makes the point that someone who only talks about the way things are isn’t really helping…by not actively fighting against injustice, the audience is inadvertently supporting it (Also Paragraph 12…paying taxes)

4. Thematic Connection/Analysis of Effect
Content Frame
Device
Text Example
Thematic Connection/Analysis of Effect
Personification
The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. (1)
Engages the audience with a concept they feel comfortable…then goes on to dehumanize the government to serve his purpose; logos
Irony
I saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen…I did not for a moment feel confined (14)
Heightens the sense of righteousness the audience feels for the speaker in the certitude of his actions; pathos/ethos
Simile
(the State) …Timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons (14)
Solidifies his comparison that the majority is a bully motivating the audience by highlighting the injustice of the government’s actions to the individual; pathos
Allusion
“Render therefore to Caesar that which is Caesar’s…” (13)
Empowers the individual to choose to stand within the political system they live in and acquiesce to or stand up against the unjust system to maintain the integrity of their soul; pathos
Chiasmus
…what is once well done is done forever. (11)
Motivates and empowers the audience to feel confident that when a just action is done, no matter how small, it is effective and essential to the progress of society; logos/pathos
Anti-thesis
Under a government which imprisons unjustly the true place for a just man is also a prison. (12)
Shocks yet reaffirms the audience in feeling that they cannot serve a system that is unjust; also provides a plan for the audience inbeing civilly disobedient; logos/pathos
Hyperbole
…if one thousand, if one hundred, if ten…if one HONEST man (11)
The audience feels supported by the confidence that even if they are alone in their action, they are being just and right; pathos
Metaphor
…when an acorn and a chestnut fall side by side…both obey their own laws… (15)
Transcendental belief that clarifies how the individual should not bow down to the government…again this encourages the audience by taking an abstract concept and making it concrete; logos
Repetition
It not only divided States and churches, it divides families; ay, it divides the individual, separating the diabolical in him from the divine. (8)
The audience feels challenged by not giving in to complacency…action must come from principle, not be separated; logos/pathos
Maxim
“That government is best which governs least” (1)
Allusion reminds the audience of their duty as a citizen; pathos

5. Venn Diagram #1 Thoreau Both Emerson Chiasmus Loose syntax
Focuses on improving government
Tone is critical and daring
Short-medium syntax
Personification, metaphor, allusion, maxim
Formal/colloquial diction
Self-Reliant & focused on the individual
Periodic
Doesn’t mention government
Focuses more broadly on the individual
Non-confrontational; fatherly

6. Venn Diagram #2 Thoreau Both King Against slavery/ US-Mexican War
Uses colloquial diction
Loose sentences
Chiasmus, rhetorical questions
Doesn’t pay taxes as his Civil Disobedience
Coach-like, challenging tone
Just/Unjust laws
Feel the Minority/Majority should be treated the same
Action is needed now
Short, Medium, Loose syntax & low diction for claims; Long syntax for support
Accept physical pain to emphasize injustice
Take morally right action over laws created by man
Tension/Friction important to causing change
Going to jail calls attention to injustice
Against the discrimination of segregation/Jim Crow Laws
Uses formal diction
Periodic sentences
Uses metaphor, alliteration, antithesis, repetition
Demonstrated through marches, sit- ins as Civil Disobedience
Fatherly, disappointed (or reassuring) tone