Question

excerpt from \civil disobedience\
by henry david thoreau
i have paid no poll tax for six years. i was put into a jail once on this account, for one night; and, as i stood considering the walls of solid stone, two or three feet thick, the door of wood and iron, a foot thick, and the iron grating which strained the light, i could not help being struck with the foolishness of that institution which treated me as if i were mere flesh and blood and bones, to be locked up. i wondered that it should have concluded at length that this was the best use it could put me to, and had never thought to avail itself of my services in some way. i saw that, if there was a wall of stone between me and my townsmen, there was a still more difficult one to climb or break through before they could get to be as free as i was. i did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar. i felt as if i alone of all my townsmen had paid my tax. they plainly did not know how to treat me, but behaved like persons who are underbred. in every threat and in every compliment there was a blunder; for they thought that my chief desire was to stand the other side of that stone wall. i could not but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditations, which followed them out again without let or hindrance, and they were really all that was dangerous. as they could not reach me, they had resolved to punish my body; just as boys, if they cannot come at some person against whom they have a spite, will abuse his dog. i saw that the state was half - witted, that it was timid as a lone woman with her silver spoons, and that it did not know its friends from its foes, and i lost all my remaining respect for it, and pitied it.
which would be the best way of describing the overall structure of thoreau’s observations in \civil disobedience\?
options:
he focuses entirely on his experiences while being imprisoned.
he uses the example of his case as a way to introduce his condemnation of the court.
he moves from a consideration of his surroundings to an evaluation of the state as a whole.
he develops a critique of his jail cell into a critique of the entire prison system and justice department.

Explanation:

1. Analyze Option 1: The text shows Thoreau's observations go beyond just his imprisonment experience (he critiques the state), so this is incorrect.
2. Analyze Option 2: The passage is not about condemning the court; it's about the state and its actions, so this is incorrect.
3. Analyze Option 3: Thoreau starts by describing his jail surroundings (stone walls, etc.) and then moves to evaluating the state (calling it half - witted, timid, etc.), which matches this option.
4. Analyze Option 4: The critique is not just of the prison system and justice department but of the state as a whole, so this is incorrect.

Answer:

He moves from a consideration of his surroundings to an evaluation of the state as a whole.