Civil Disobedience: A Document Analysis

Have you ever wanted to change something in society but you couldn’t because you were afraid to protest about it because you thought you might get in trouble? Civil disobedience has been around for over 150 years. It has both worked and not worked in some cases, so is it the best way to protest? This informative essay is going to prove to you why civil disobedience is the way to go when protesting. Three documents that include the theme civil disobedience are “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau, “On Nonviolent Resistance” by Mohandas K. Gandhi, and “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.. Before you read this, you need to know the theme that will be discussed and its meaning. The theme that will be discussed is civil …show more content…
Gandhi. There are many ways in which this document fits the theme civil disobedience. A quote from this document that helps the document fit the theme civil disobedience is “... In opposing the atrocious laws of the government of South Africa, it was this method that we adopted. We made it clear to the said government that we would never bow to its outrageous laws…” This helps the document fit the theme civil disobedience because Gandhi and the people of South Africa didn’t put up with the laws and peacefully protested against them. If Gandhi and the people that were protesting with him were really mad at the government then they could have violently protested towards the government, but they didn’t, they stayed calm and protested peacefully. A second quote that helps the document fit the theme civil disobedience is “So long as it is your endeavor to control us with justice and love we will let you do so. But if you wish to strike at us from behind we cannot permit it.” This quote helps the document fit the theme civil disobedience because if the government treats them wrongly, they will protest. They protested peacefully, which makes it civil disobedience, which makes this document fit the theme civil disobedience. The last quote that helps this document fit the theme civil disobedience is “we will never obey them. Award us for what punishment you like, we will put up with it.” This helps the document fit them theme civil disobedience because they will peacefully protest by taking punishments than obeying the rules. This means that they dislike the law so much that they would rather get a punishment than to obey the law, this is an example of being civilly disobedient. There is one last document that fits the theme civil disobedience, it is “Letter from Birmingham Jail” by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and once again this document is a great example of fitting the theme civil