Second Level: Explicating a Text, Civil Disobedience
Now use the excerpt below to explicate the thesis of the
excerpt below and on the previous page, following these directions:
- State the main point of the paragraph in one or two sentences.
- Then elaborate on what you have paraphrased (“In other words,...”).
- Give examples of the meaning by tying it to concrete situations in the real world. (For example,...)
- Generate metaphors, analogies, pictures, or diagrams of the basic thesis to connect it to other meanings you already understand.
Civil Disobedience
Background Information:
This is the opening paragraph of an essay on “Civil Disobedience,” originally written in 1849 by Henry David Thoreau, a well-known figure in nineteenth century American cultural and literary thought.
I heartily accept the motto, — “That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, “That government is best which governs not at all,” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an army of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.
Background Information:
This is the opening paragraph of an essay on “Civil Disobedience,” originally written in 1849 by Henry David Thoreau, a well-known figure in nineteenth century American cultural and literary thought.
I heartily accept the motto, — “That government is best which governs least;” and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, “That government is best which governs not at all,” and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an army of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it.
Specimen Answer: