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Metaphors In Thoreau's Civil Obedience

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In Thoreau's "Civil Obedience" metaphor and parallelism are utilized to support his notion that the government fails to be one that is satisfactory. Thoreau's usage of metaphor expresses the uselessness that the government is. He writes, " It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves..." Here, Thoreau compares the government to a wooden gun, saying that it is as useless as one. 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. Thoreau states, "It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West.

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