Thoreau vs. Gandhi

Thoreau and Gandhi's two pieces, "Civil Disobedience" and "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March" are both very influential pieces based upon acts of protest. They are very different in some ways but also much alike in others.

Clearly the most fundamental similarity is the act of protest happening in both of the works. Thoreau's cause is a protest against poll taxes that Thoreau protests against by simply refusing to pay it. He then spends a night in jail for his protest and refusal and tells the tale of his stay in the local jail.

Gandhi's protest is against the tax on salt that is being imposed upon the people of India. His cause is also a protest against this tax, but his speech is a plan for protest rather than an account that is written down after the protest. The speech takes place the night before the protest, hence its title "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March." In his speech he discusses three different ways in which the people can protest the tax peacefully without using any form of violence.

The writing styles of the two men are very different however. Thoreau almost makes it seem as though everything is about him in his works. He talks about how the government is wronging people and it all comes off as almost a way he is complaining about he himself is being wronged specifically. His work was not so much a call to arms for a chance to occur as it was a dissection of the very problems he saw in the government as a whole. Because of this he does not seem to touch the readers on quite as much of a personal level I do not believe.

Gandhi, on the other hand, was very good at touching people on a personal level. The whole point of his speech was to rally together troops and call them to action in order to get something done peacefully and efficiently. His cause was not personal, but rather it was to benefit the entire nation and stop the wrongful occurrences he felt were being imposed upon his people. His main concern was to make life better for the people not just for himself. For this reason I felt as though he touched the audience on much more of a personal level.

I believe the important thing to take away from these speeches is the point that protest and change do not always have to come at the price of blood. Sometimes people can be mature adults and handle things in an adult matter, which means talking about them or even protesting them but in a peaceful and non-violent way. These works stand as examples of that. In Gandhi's case these works went on to become actions that eventually led to change. In the case of Thoreau, although he might have influenced many people with his works, I do not believe there is an immediate source of action that can be verified. However both men have provided us with one thing and that is the inspiration to affect change with our words rather than our weapons, and that is an invaluable lesson.

Works Cited

Gandhi, Mahatma. "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March." American Literature. Comp. Jeffory Willhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 229-30. Print.


Thoreau, Henry D. "Civil Disobedience." American Literature. Comp. Jeffory Willhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 222-27. Print.