Debate : 9128


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Subject:	Re: Essay on Emerson vs. Thoreau; civil disobedience
Newsgroups:	lugnet.off-topic.debate
Date:	Sun, 28 Jan 2001 22:18:25 GMT
Viewed:	193 times

Shiri Dori wrote: > > Hey guys, > > I'm enclosing something I wrote for my English class, just a little food for > thought. It was to be based on a play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail", > which I actually really liked (which, unfortunately, is a rarity for class > reading material). I chose what I found to be the hardest opinion to > actually *defend*, although it is the one most of us live by. This is > Emerson's part - he does not live his own ideals of civil disobedience, but > rather prefers to remain in his comfortable world of "warm toast and tea and > soft-boiled egg.... on a tray to bed each morning" (76). In the play he is > depicted as a bright man, but somewhat of a hypocrite. I did my best to show > otherwise. So, LMKWYT, or spark a discussion, by all means. One of these days I really must read this play, since it is significant to me on many fronts. The play is definitely a commentary on the US, but is also an interesting window into my own faith of Unitarian Universalist as both Thoreau and Emerson were Unitarians. And then there's the fact that part of my youth was spent in Concord MA (living at 1 Thoreau St. around the corner from Emerson's house, learning to swim in Walden Pond etc.). Several of our youth at church have studied this play (which is where I first heard about it). It definitely reflects the struggle between not compromising one's ideals and seeking effective routes to change that Unitarian Universalists and many other folks around the world (such as Rabin as Shiri points out) deal with. Thanks for sharing this with us Shiri. Frank

Message has 1 Reply:

		Re: Essay on Emerson vs. Thoreau; civil disobedience
(...) Ya, Shiri, what Frank said! Thanks for sharing. I don't have the personal experience with the environs of Thoreau and Emerson that Frank does, but you can be sure that this "work within the system" vs. "we need active revolution/active (...) (23 years ago, 29-Jan-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

Message is in Reply To:

		Essay on Emerson vs. Thoreau; civil disobedience
Hey guys, I'm enclosing something I wrote for my English class, just a little food for thought. It was to be based on a play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail", which I actually really liked (which, unfortunately, is a rarity for class reading (...) (23 years ago, 28-Jan-01, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)

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