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Situational Irony
Style
Explanation and Analysis:
In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau aims to persuade as many of his fellow Americans as possible to join him in peaceful resistance against the American government. In the essay, he adopts a straightforward and commonsensical style that presents his occasionally radical beliefs in a familiar manner. The opening lines of the essay demonstrate this style:
I HEARTILY ACCEPT the motto,—“That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe,—“That government is best which governs not at all;” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient.
Thoreau begins the essay by using a well-known quote often attributed to Thomas Jefferson, one of the “Founding Fathers” of the United States: “That government is best which governs least.” By using this familiar quote, which would have been familiar to any reader in the 19th century, Thoreau suggests that his argument is not novel and idealistic, but rather aligned with values considered central to American society and politics. Following the logic of the quote, he then takes it one step further: if a good government is one that “governs least,” then the best form of government is one that “governs not at all.” Thoreau, then, presents his ideas as a logical outgrowth of the spirit that animated the American Revolution.
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