ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -He believes that the government is but a wooden gun to the people meaning that it is as useful for the people as a wooden gun would help a person, not useful at all. This exemplifies Thoreau’s ideology through metaphor. Parallelism is made use of as well in Thoreau’s discourse.

Detailed explanation-2: -Thoreau uses figurative language such as metaphors throughout the text. By far, the most prominent example is the extended metaphor of the government as a machine. He uses that metaphor to suggest that people who support the government are cogs in the machine of injustice.

Detailed explanation-3: -Thoreau then returns to the metaphor of the government-as-machine. He says that if an injustice is part of the “necessary friction” of the “machine of government, ” then it should be left alone. Perhaps the machine will wear smooth; in any case, it will eventually wear out.

Detailed explanation-4: -Thoreau uses the metaphor of the government as a “wooden gun” to illustrate that government is useless. He supports this point when he explains that American citizens, not the American government, are responsible for America’s accomplishments.

Detailed explanation-5: -Thoreau argued that the government must end its unjust actions to earn the right to collect taxes from its citizens. As long as the government commits unjust actions, he continued, conscientious individuals must choose whether to pay their taxes or to refuse to pay them and defy the government.