The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail

“Is this the Earth? […] No. It’s you. And I. And God. And Mr. Emerson. And the Universal Mind.”

Henry believes in a divine connection that runs among God, nature, and humankind. Thus, he tells John that the Earth is not simply the Earth; it is everything and everyone, too. Henry believes in honoring the divine in nature and in his fellow humans, treating both with respect and seeking to protect them when possible.

BAILEY (Foggily.) I missed part of that. Guess I’m not full awake.

HENRY (Studying him.) “Nobody is. If I ever met a man who was completely awake, how could I look him in the face?”

Henry uses being awake as a metaphor for being fully aware of the divinity within oneself and everyone else. No one—according to Henry—is truly and fully aware of their divinity and individuality. If he were to meet such a sensitive and discerning person, he feels it may be difficult for him to even look at them because it would make him feel inadequate or deficient in comparison. To see someone so awake, so alive and deliberate, would be humbling since Henry is still working to constantly remember the divinity in others.

“Any time you hear a man called ‘loony,’ just remember that’s a great compliment to the man and a great disrespect to the loon. A loon doesn’t wage war, his government is perfect, being nonexistent.”

Bailey calls Henry a “loon,” meaning that Henry’s ideas are silly or odd, and rather than taking offense, Henry takes this as a compliment. He explains that he has great respect for the loon as a creature since it has greater liberty than most humans. The loon has no government and no desire to perpetrate violence on its fellows; it is peaceful and free, unlike most humans.

“‘Get along’! Those words turn my stomach.”

When Bailey says he doesn’t want to make trouble but prefers just to “get along,” Henry expresses disgust with the very idea. Bailey’s desire to “get along” has led to his three-month incarceration while he awaits trial and leads to his passivity in the face of injustice. Henry believes that if everyone just wants to “get along,” then society will never change for the better. He refers to the American Revolution as an example of everything that is wrong with “getting along;” if the colonists had opted to “get along” with corrupt English rule, America would not exist.

“He’s going where he’s supposed to go. So he can be where he’s supposed to be, at the time he’s supposed to be there. Why? So he’ll be liked.”

Henry thinks that most people in society compromise on their personal freedoms in order to work and make more money. To “get along” with society, they conform to the common practice of working long hours to buy a big house and acquire more possessions. He describes a man that he and Bailey can see through the bars of their cell, and Henry insists that even though the pair of them are prisoners, they are actually freer than this man and others like him. The man is imprisoned by his obligations and his desire to be liked, and they have no such obligations or desires.

“Fire inside burns hotter than fire outside. A man’s conviction is stronger than a flame or a bullet or a rock.”

Henry suggests that violence—or “fire outside”—is less effective and less powerful than confidence and passion, which is the “fire inside.” A person could burn down the Capitol, or shoot or throw a rock at a politician, but that violent act accomplishes little. Buildings can be rebuilt, people recover from injuries, and new politicians are elected. However, a person who actively and repeatedly tries to enact social change by employing all the resources at their disposal can do more to alter injustice than violence can.

“The Universal Mind is the divine part of all of us; and we partake, knowingly or not, in the wonder of that Universal Mind.”

Henry teaches his students that there is a divine intelligence that created the universe, which is an idea he learned from Waldo. This puts him at odds with Ball, the school board, and the Unitarian church. However, this belief also underwrites his basic belief in Freedom and Liberty for All. If every person contains that divine spark, then every person is entitled to the same rights and privileges. Thus, Henry treats everyone with equal respect, no matter their individual circumstances.

“Henry, give the man a penny apology. Two-cents-worth of humility!”

When Ball threatens to remove Henry from the classroom, Henry hears John’s voice speaking to him inside his head. John’s words represent a stance that Henry comes to loathe: “getting along.” If Henry wants to keep teaching Concord’s children, which he does, he has to appease Ball, who is a corrupt authority. Experiences like these compel Henry to stop seeking approval or permission to obey his conscience, especially because the apology isn’t even enough to satisfy Ball.

“Nobody can teach anybody anything.”

John and Henry found their outdoor school based on this philosophy. They believe that people learn through curiosity and experience. Lecturing a class from a textbook about the different types of grass to be found in Massachusetts imparts nothing but facts. However, taking the class into the field to experience the variety of grasses, and helping them to make the connection between the myriad grasses and their myriad selves, imparts wisdom and fosters curiosity. This is the teaching strategy Henry refers to as “huckleberrying,” in which students simply wander around, collecting nuggets of knowledge and experience.

“Most of Concord is too busy eating meals and going to the postoffice.”

Henry believes that most people are too busy engaging in the mundane activities of conventional life to appreciate nature or the freedom available to them. They become so busy with trifles—sitting down to dinners and running errands—that they begin to think these things are the important parts of life. They are not moved by natural beauty or the human spirit because they are too occupied with insignificant tasks.

“John and I are not finishers. Nobody leaves us with a smooth surface. We rough up the consciousness, scrape the moss off young minds.”

When Henry learns that Ellen Sewell went to finishing school, he cautions her that attending his school will be quite different. Being “finished” is a static state, which means that one has completed the process of growing and learning and does not need to grow or learn any more. Henry abhors this idea, saying that being in his class will “rough up” any “smooth surface[s]” Ellen has; this is a metaphor for being unfinished, or dynamic. Moss grows on stationary objects in dark places, so Henry uses this metaphor to show that he and John aim to expose their students to the light of education and make learning dynamic and fun.

“Follow-the-leader is not the game we’re playing here! Young lady, BE YOUR OWN MAN!”

The irony of Henry telling Ellen, a young woman, to be her own “man” makes this line comical. At the same time, his message—to be unapologetically oneself and refuse to mimic someone else—is clear. However, during this era, women had fewer rights than men, and Henry’s suggestion that Ellen be her own “man” acknowledges this and says that she, too, could defy convention and avail herself of greater personal liberty. Ultimately, Ellen is too conventional to choose this path and obeys her father in all things.

“We’re poisoning paradise. Shearing off the woods, making the poor earth bald before her time.”

Henry sees nature as part of the divine, and he respects and values it as much as he values personal freedom. He believes that people exploit natural resources because of their materialism. He personifies the earth, likening it to a woman who has been sheared like a sheep, made awkwardly and painfully bald by society’s greed.

“I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable advice from my seniors.”

Henry tells his students that they should not accept advice from supposed authority figures. Just because someone has tried and failed at something does not mean the next person should not try the same thing; likewise, just because someone achieved success a certain way does not mean that others should emulate that person or even define “success” in the same way. Henry says it is important for everyone to live their own life and learn their own lessons.

“Thank you, Concord! Thank you for locking me up so I’m free to hear what I’ve never heard before.”

Henry’s gratitude is ironic. He is grateful to be locked up because it grants him unexpected freedom. Henry hears the clock tower bells striking, and he is amazed that he had to be jailed to experience it. Normally, he’d be in his cabin at Walden at this time, and he would have missed the beauty of the bells’ chimes. However, because he is in jail, he is in town, and he is “free” in a greater capacity than ever before. He has no obligations or responsibilities tonight precisely because he can complete no tasks while jailed.

“Why spend the best part of your life earning money so that you can enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it? Why work like a dog so you can pant for a moment or two before you die?”

When Waldo commends Henry for thinking about his retirement, Henry explains how ridiculous it is to work away one’s youth just to save for old age. His simile, comparing the plight of the worker to a dog, highlights the misplaced loyalty workers often maintain, putting their jobs ahead of their happiness. Then, once that worker has finally saved up enough money to stop working, they have but a “moment or two” to recover from the exertions of life before it ends. Henry, in contrast, would rather live simply and enjoy life in his youth.

“I will not pay one copper penny to an unjust government! I wouldn’t pay the tithe and tariff to the church, so I signed off from the church! Well, I’m ready right now, Sam, to sign off from the government. Where do I sign?”

Henry refused to pay the price of church membership, so he quit the church. Now, confronted with a court order to pay taxes, Henry wants to know how he can quit the government. He does not consent to be governed or represented by it, so he feels he should not be expected to fund it. His remarks highlight the way in which citizens are legally required to pay for a government with which they might completely disagree, even when that government uses those funds to perpetuate institutions that run counter to its supposed values.

“I’m the majority. A majority of one!”

Henry’s claim to be a majority of one explains why he believes his personal authority, as a man following his principles, is equal to or even greater than the authority of a numerical majority. Just because most people want something doesn’t make it right or just. A corrupt politician could win a majority vote, prevailing in an election, but that doesn’t mean this politician is the just or principled choice. Henry believes that a person governed by his conscience should not be forced to submit to the actions of a corrupt authority just because that authority was elected by a majority. This belief is a major way in which Henry differs from Waldo.

“All I know is, it ain’t fittin’ to throw a Harvard Man in jail. ’Specially a Thoreau. A honester man than you, Henry, I never knew.”

Sam Staples’s assessment of Henry’s character—that he is the most honest man he knows—highlights the irony of jailing him. Jail is supposed to be a place for dishonest people, and Henry is certainly not one. So, if a man like Henry is imprisoned as a criminal, then society needs to reconsider the laws that make him so. Henry’s incarceration is an indictment of the United States government and legal system.

“You know what the government said to me, Bailey? ‘Your money or your life.’ I won’t give it my money. And they think they have my life!”

Henry revels in the idea that he has outsmarted the government. He personifies the government as a stereotypical thief who threatens innocent people to either hand over their money or be killed. When Henry does not part with his money, he submits to being locked up. This personified government sees that punishment as tantamount to taking his life away, but Henry believes that being in jail demonstrates and sustains his freedom. He followed his principles and is necessarily unburdened of any responsibility outside the jail. He is free to chat with Bailey, sleep, or listen to the birds and the clock bells, so he is still in possession of his freedom that gives his life meaning and purpose.

“Henry, you have wits enough to know that, in order to get along, you have to go along.”

Lydian Emerson’s advice to Henry demonstrates that she is more conservative than Henry. She advises him to be more compliant and less confrontational so that he can “get along” with others. She thinks that if he stops rocking the boat of society quite so much, he can meet with greater success in his endeavors to change it. Henry declines this advice.

“If I were God, Bailey—instead of just a speck of Him—I wouldn’t let you die away in the dark.”

Henry finds God to be unjust. For instance, God let John die, and God permits Bailey to sit in jail for months, just awaiting his opportunity to explain that he’s innocent. Henry believes each person contains a “speck” of the divine, but he cannot understand how this divine being can be so absentminded and cruel. This line demonstrates the ideological tension in regard to Henry’s perception of God’s nature and involvement in human affairs.

“When a man, at the border of freedom, is stopped by the rifle of a Boston policeman, he doesn’t have time for Dr. Emerson’s leisurely sermon on ‘the slow evolving of the seasons.’”

Henry’s sarcasm highlights Waldo’s privilege. Waldo is satisfied with casting his vote, waiting for the government to do the right thing, and assenting to the sluggishness of social change. However, he can be satisfied with waiting because he, as a wealthy white man, is in no danger of being shot in the meantime, like Williams. While Williams is brutally shot while attempting to escape enslavement and prejudice, Waldo enjoys breakfasts in bed, gives lectures, and hopes for the best sooner rather than later. Williams cannot afford to wait on the sluggish movement of social change because he is in danger until that change comes. Waldo isn’t, and his failure to understand this urgency infuriates Henry.