Below is a clip of a high school production of The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. I'm not so sure that those chairs are authentically nineteenth-century handiwork, though.
I remember reading The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail in high school. We read sections of Walden as well, but TNTSIJ really struck my interest. I feel like I can personally relate to Thoreau and his act of civil disobedience, especially as a college student, away from my parents and living off on my own. I never went through a rebellious stage in high school, but I find myself in one now (more so during freshman year of college). Even though Thoreau only spent one night in jail, he still represents, at least to me, the "perpetual youth" of America, filled with independence and rebellion against society even as an adult.
I've never actually read TNTSIJ. I know that it tends to be taught on the secondary level, but I've never understood why it seems to trump Resistance to Civil Government. FWIW, Wikipedia gives a decent overview of the changes in the essay's title.
I've never read Resistance to Civil Government, but I remember learning about the change in the essay's title. I think we read TNTSIJ in high school because it was a quick read that we were expected to finish in one night, and it was a nice breather from the lengthy novels we were assigned.
I remember reading The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail in high school. We read sections of Walden as well, but TNTSIJ really struck my interest. I feel like I can personally relate to Thoreau and his act of civil disobedience, especially as a college student, away from my parents and living off on my own. I never went through a rebellious stage in high school, but I find myself in one now (more so during freshman year of college). Even though Thoreau only spent one night in jail, he still represents, at least to me, the "perpetual youth" of America, filled with independence and rebellion against society even as an adult.
ReplyDeleteSam,
ReplyDeleteI've never actually read TNTSIJ. I know that it tends to be taught on the secondary level, but I've never understood why it seems to trump Resistance to Civil Government. FWIW, Wikipedia gives a decent overview of the changes in the essay's title.
I've never read Resistance to Civil Government, but I remember learning about the change in the essay's title. I think we read TNTSIJ in high school because it was a quick read that we were expected to finish in one night, and it was a nice breather from the lengthy novels we were assigned.
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