Civil Disobedience
A Study Guide
1. Describe the ideal government from Thoreau's viewpoint:
2. Examine paragraph 4. In a democratic country like the U.S., what or who should
decide between right and wrong, according to Thoreau?
3. Find at least 5 metaphors for man that Thoreau uses on p. 146. What do these
comparisons communicate to the reader?
4. Many say that people should be patient and use the system to change laws. How
would Thoreau respond to this idea? Explain.
5. Explain Thoreau's statement, "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly,
the true place for a just man is also a prison."
6. Thoreau presents three major justifications for his civil disobedience. Explain
what these are, using specific references.
7. Why did Thoreau choose the poll tax as his symbolic gesture for civil disobedience?
8. Examine the final two paragraphs and compare them with the ideas expressed
in the opening paragraph. Does Thoreau advocate anarchy?
9. Ralph Waldo Emerson once stated, "No truer American existed than Thoreau."
Support Emerson's assertion, using references from Thoreau's essay.
Thoreau at Walden
American Authors
of the 19th Century - Henry David Thoreau
Buy
this Poster at AllPosters.com
