Thoreau Spent In Jail: Non-Conformity

Thoreau supported non-conformity because he believed in the importance to speak your mind and follow your conscious. He believed you should stay true to yourself no matter what consequence or how anyone feels about it. In the play The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Henry Thoreau's personality was really bold. I had never read about a character who was so out-spoken and did exactly what he wanted. One of the scene's that stood out to me the most was when I learned he went to jail because he refused to support the government and pay his taxes. Thoreau didn't see eye to eye with the government and he strongly believed that they used all the money collected from taxes to do and support horrible things like injustice …show more content…
And I wouldn't pay for it." After John tries to exclaim how much their mother would love for him to have one Henry goes a step further and says, "Let every sheep keep his own skin." As I stated earlier Thoreau was bold, so bold that he memorized and chanted something Waldo had said to him about abandoning conformity. "Cast conformity behind you," He said. Right at the very beginning of the play he shows so much fearlessness towards society's standards and regulations. While teaching his students he kept being interrupted by Ball who was demanding he use textbooks or he wasn't allowed to teach. Instead of backing down Henry repeatedly told him no and why he thought textbooks were useless to people with any sense of curiosity. "We're huckleberrying, sir," "I find your texts somewhat behind the century," and " My students have the ache of curiosity, which I'm afraid your proscriptions will not cure!" Ball also tried to demand Henry to punish his students by beating them and Henry stood his ground saying, "I said "No." I do not believe in corporal