Littérature Américaine

06.10.2020

Oppositions / contrasts
>> 1st paragraph
What does Throeau say about government in the first paragraph ?
Gvnmt is best which governs least and not at all >>> paradox
What does he mean ? Gvnmt has a possibilité to secure certain civil rights
Life . Liberty . And the pursuit of happiness
Sets up a contrast btw theorical aspect of gvnmt and fcats
Expedient : a mean to an end
The gvnmt should work for the greater good and not onlky for the social class that rules the
country
Gvnmts are most of the time inexpedient >> not reasonable / immoral/ unreliable
 Morally corrupt

Analogy btw standing army and standing gvnmt

Stress the immorality of the gvnmt
 Standing army = always redady to go to war

Why is the gvnmt useful ?

What's a wooden gun ? >> idea of protection
Gvnmt imposes limits on pple's liberty
Wooden gun offers security anyway
Reassuring
It unites the station / unifying principle
>> metaphor of the watchmaker
= puts everything in order / organizes things
Obeying means you are going to lose your independence to a certain extent

Paragraph 4 :
Majority rule problematic : why ?
Will never consider the possT of justice >> minorities will be disadvantaged
Creates conflicts
Citizens should make the decisions
//=> conscience (helps to separate right and wrong)
Some subjects should be left to the appreciation of the citizens.
 Decisions according to their conscience.
When the Am gvnmt was created >>> international relations
Diplomacy
Setting up a duaity btw justice and legality
What does true justice rely on ?
Morality >> the rule of consciousness
The law dictate conscience
Dehumanizing effect (the law) >> obeying the law does not imply the use of consciousness
 Analysis of the figure of the marine = dead man standing
Oxymoron here

What's the message he's trying to convey ?

States servants > ccomponents of the nation > standing army of the law
Stand on the side of the law
Metaphors : machines / wooden men/ men of straw / dirt
Embody the force / the violence of the gvnmt made legitimate by the law / they are minnustiouly
obedient
Paradox : this is how Thoreau sees them
Coercive body
What's wrong with the legislatives ? / the power holders? They're unfair
Who are the heroes of the nation ? : MEN
Meliorative descriptin of the heroes
>> they act according to their conscience
// HAMLET – KING JOHN by Shakespeare
 Keep the wind away : lack of action / allusion to dead body / death of the conscience and
political death
< King john : criticizes the reformers
 The character who speaks here is Louis, le Dauphin // confrontation btw king john of England
and Louis, de France
Who are kings ? citizens
>>> Louis le Dauphin says he will not be obeying to someone else's will

Criticism pargarph 7
Appropriation Bill >> the Wilmot but failed >> blocked by the senate (composed of southerners
who defended slavery)

CRITICISM OF THE CITIZENS

How should a man respond to tyrannical gvnmt ?
Should exercise his / her rights to revolutionize when gvnmt unfair
Chiasmus >> rights that the citizens have to bring down the gvnmt if it's unfair

SYNTHESIS of the paragraphs