Thoreau, King, And Chavez

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Civil disobedience is the act of non-violent rebellion against the law for moral or philosophical reasons. Activists such as Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Henry David Thoreau, and Caesar Chavez have various approaches in regard to civil disobedience. In their writings, Thoreau, Gandhi, King, and Chavez all utilize the method of civil disobedience while appealing to the audience, practicing non-violence and using a variety of styles to obtain justice.

Each author has a specific purpose and style to their writing; Thoreau criticizes the American government for its counterproductive policies and bad intentions. He states, “This American government — what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for …show more content…
To assert his purpose for this letter, Gandhi states that his “ambition is no less than to convert the British people through non-violence, and thus to make them see the wrong they have done to India.”(Gandhi, lines 9-12). Maintaining a calm demeanor, he continues, “I do not seek to harm your people. I want to serve them as even as I want to serve my own,” (Gandhi, lines 12-14), and his actions are consistent with his words: he protests through direct confrontation and without aggression. He strongly believes in non-violence and that is shown through his actions and writings which demonstrate how civil disobedience can be effective for attaining justice. Gandhi’s direct criticism is similar to Thoreau’s, but their styles differ, most likely because their addresses differ. Gandhi is writing a letter with a specific receiver which explains his respectful and considerate approach while Thoreau is writing for a much bigger audience and has little consideration of how it could be
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