Ahhh

26/01/2010
In an army, a soldier's duty is to obey his superior officers. Referring closely to Orwell and Thoreau’s essays what do you think should be the relationship between an individual and hisgovernment to ensure a stable, just and creative society?
Thoreau is known for his individualism, his preference for a simple way of living and his revolt against society and government. Orwell inthe other hand describes a totalitarian society in his classic novel 1984, he referred the government as the Big Brother and that the government had almost total control over people. In both essays,they give their point of view of how governments should be. In this essay I will discuss what should be the relation between an individual and the government to ensure a stable and creative society.Thoreau was against the government. For him the government was the first to impose corruption and injustice. Government has no right to tell me what is right or wrong in terms of morality. He encouragesthe Transcendentalists. For him individual need to react against the government. “The mass of men serve the state thus, not as men mainly, but as machines, with their bodies. They are the standingarmy, and the militia, jailers, constables etc. In most cases there is no free exercise whatever of the judgment or of the moral sense; but they put themselves on a level with wood and earth andstones; and wooden men can perhaps be manufactured that will serve the purpose as well. Such command no more respect than men of straw or a lump of dirt. They have the same sort of worth only as horses anddogs” here Thoreau talks about men who serve the state and how they work for the government with their bodies not with their minds. For him people should be free to do what they think is right and notbe dependant of a country.
Orwell in the other hand talks more about how a nationalist government that people are like robots they do what the government ask them to do. Nationalism according to...