Civil Disobedience

While I somewhat understood the general idea that Thoreau was trying to get across, I kind of got lost in the wording. I had to re-read each paragraph just about and for some of them I'm still a bit hazy on what it's exact meaning was. I extracted what I thought he meant or was trying to get across, however I seriously question whether or not I was correct in doing so. In examining how Thoreau dealt with unjust laws, paragraph 16 stuck out the most to me. "Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavor to amend them and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once? Men generally, under such a government as this, think that they ought to wait until they have persuaded the majority to alter them. They think that if they should resist the remedy would be worse than the evil. It makes it worse" (Thoreau 144). This paragraph identified the act of knowing the extent of the unfairness that existed within the law, and examined mans ability and willingness to do something about it. Paragraph 18 then goes on to say "if the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government, let it go, let it go: perchance it will wear smooth - certainly the machine will wear out. If the injustice has a spring or a pulley or a rope or a crank exclusively for itself, then perhaps you may consider whether the remedy will not be worse than the evil; but if it is of such a nature that it requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then I say break the law. let you life be a counter friction to stop the machine. What I have to do is to see, at any rate, that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn" (Thoreau 145). From this quote, I inferred Thoreau believed that the best way to enforce or incorporate change in the legal system was in directly doing so himself. In actively disobeying the law, or in Thoreau's case, doing what he felt was just, he believed he made a difference. By not going along with the flow, he became the counter friction to stop the machine.

Thoreau, Henry David. "Civil Disobedience." A World of Ideas: Essential Readings for College Writers. Ed. Lee A. Jacobus. 7th ed. New York: Bedford/St. Martins. 2006. pp. 137-157.