The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Henry David Thoreau expresses Transcendentalism in almost every aspect of his life. He lives actively in the way that is justifiable to his own conscience, and he relentlessly expresses his own opinions. In the play The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Thoreau is known for his distaste of conformity. This is represented in many ways most obviously in the style of how the play was written. We begin with the structure of the play. The sequence of events is not particularly in any chronological order: “time and space are awash here.” This is an example of transcendentalism because it shows nonconformity to the social norm of play structure. Transcendentalism is also expressed with Henry’s thoughts and actions. He
