Rhetorical Analysis On Civil Disobedience

It's clear Thoreau is very passionate and opinionated about his form of effective government compared to how the government is set up. His passage, Civil Disobedience is very insightful and his attitude cannot be mistaken. The target audience Thoreau wanted to inform, specifically is Americans who have experienced injustice. He himself had experienced injustice from the government and felt it was his time to speak his opinion. Besides that specific group, Thoreau also targeted anyone interested in bettering the government. Thoreau was speaking to those who want to learn more about his opinion of the best form of government. He knows there are people who agree with him. The tone of the writing is more personal. He is writing to the people but not looking for an actual answer. What he is expecting from this …show more content…
The main claim found in this passage is, ‘The power of majority should be limited.’ Many times throughout the passage he points out there is power in numbers and when numbers grow, so does the power. A quote from the reading, “A government where majority rules can’t be based on justice” leads readers to understand how Thoreau felt about the growing government and the injustice that is progressively getting worse, as well as conveys his true feelings about true justice. It can be inferred that Thoreau believes justice comes when problems are handled privately, by conscious decisions. Another quote that can be found in the passage that relates consciousness with the past quote about the majority is, “The majority shouldn’t decide what's right, our conscious should”. This directly states a large number of people shouldnt have overwhelming power to make all decisions, whether that be lawmaking, court decisions, or anything along those lines. These decisions should be decided by consciousness, or through empathy and understanding how to deal with that