The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Analysis

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Analysis

The play, The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, is a riveting tale by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, which tells a story about a young man and his well-known performance of disobedience in American History. The play is about David Henry Thoreau, who goes by the name of Henry David Thoreau; he is a young transcendentalist who has his own personal view and opinions about matters. He is put under jail because of his refusal to pay his taxes. He does not believe that he should give money to an unjust government especially since the money is used for the Mexican War in which is completely against. He participated in civil disobedience which brought him to jail. In his cell, he is still free to think and reflect on his life, which creates an imagery somewhat of a plot line. During this time, it is easy to see who Thoreau is and his belief, morals, and view upon the government, lifestyle, religion and more. The lesson, or message learned from Thoreau is always stand up in what you believe in.

In the quote, "We'll, we've come to expect a certain degree of unruliness from Harvard men. Your apology shows that you recognize this flaw in your character. But your students don't have Harvard as an excuse. They must be punished." (Lawrence and Lee22) This quote takes place when Thoreau was still a teacher and was teaching his students his ideas and etc. A Chairman of the Concord School Committee named Deacon Nehemiah Ball has entered the act and has judge the way Thoreau teaches, criticizing his technique as Thoreau calls "huckleberrying". During this time of arguing which is the correct way to educate and which way are incorrect, the children express their amusement which sets Ball easily offended. However, even though Thoreau has ridicule him along with the students, in the quote, Ball explains how he has gone through Harvard and how his apology is accepted however, Ball claims the students need to be punished. This creates a dilemma where Ball would like to see the student's consequence to be paddling, which goes against Thoreau's beliefs. Thoreau refuses to spank a child and rather lecture as an alternative. Thoreau ends up quitting his job as a teacher after this. The theme here is disobedience, Thoreau demonstrates disobedience throughout this entire play, however in this case, and Thoreau shows it by disobeying the district and standing up for what he believes in. He shows that disobedience and rebellion is superior.

In this second quote, "If a lightning bolt had struck him, that might have been worthy of the size of the man. But a nick in the finger from a dull razor-what an indignity! What kind of God would drain away such youth and energy and laughter! A sneak attack from the Almighty!" (Lawrence and Lee51) Thoreau is speaking in this quote, and he is explaining his brother's