How do the rebukes presented in Thoreau's "Civil Disobedience" and Emerson's "Self-Reliance" differ? What do the two authors criticize their fellow...

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” touch on many of the same thematic elements. Chief among them is the authors’ shared calls for their fellow citizens to be independent thinkers who resist the temptations inherent with conformity. Indeed, the transcendentalist philosophers are especially critical of society’s negative effects on personal agency.

Thoreau specifically challenges the government and the way that it oversteps its boundaries. Moreover, he chastises his fellow Americans for...

Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” touch on many of the same thematic elements. Chief among them is the authors’ shared calls for their fellow citizens to be independent thinkers who resist the temptations inherent with conformity. Indeed, the transcendentalist philosophers are especially critical of society’s negative effects on personal agency.

Thoreau specifically challenges the government and the way that it oversteps its boundaries. Moreover, he chastises his fellow Americans for being complacent in the government’s abuses. He argues that even voting is insufficient in addressing the injustices imposed by laws and governmental structures. He rallies citizens to be more proactive and vocal in addressing the government:

But, to speak practically and as a citizen, unlike those who call themselves no-government men, I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it. (http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html)

While Thoreau emphasizes the failings of the government and citizens within the system, Emerson addresses society and man’s desire for conformity in a more general way. Much like Thoreau, Emerson argues that citizens are too content being members of a questionable society, and that this conformity robs men of their individuality:

Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs (http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm)

Both Thoreau and Emerson emphasize personal agency over conformity to a corrupt—and corrupting—society. They value, in Emerson’s terms, self-reliance and independence while questioning the oppressive influence of society and the government.

Citations:

http://thoreau.eserver.org/civil1.html

http://www.emersoncentral.com/selfreliance.htm