ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -It is a common rhetorical device in epigrammatic writing. The statement, “that government is best which governs least”, or carried to its logical limit, “that government is best which governs not at all”, seems apparently paradoxical.

Detailed explanation-2: -Explanation: A “paradox” is a seemingly contradictory statement pointing to a truth. The author states, “government is best which governs not at all.” Parallel structure (or parallelism) occurs when similar grammatical or syntactical patterns are repeated; parallelism does not occur in the passage’s opening sentences.

Detailed explanation-3: -Henry David Thoreau is the author of the famous statement: “ That Government is the best which governs least."

Detailed explanation-4: -Thoreau opens his essay with a radical paradox, “That government is best which governs not at all.” Thoreau means government should trust their citizens to make their own decisions or in an ideal world people would not need governments at all.

Detailed explanation-5: -Thoreau’s paradox suggests that freedom is a state of mind and an expression of principles, and therefore unrelated to physical confinement. This paradox subverts our typical assumptions about law-abiding behavior: by obeying the law, we avoid paying the penalty for disobeying it.