Prison as an “Honorable Ground”: Access to the Universe

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立 政 治 大 學

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N a tio na

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Soul, Inner Divinity, Anti-Authority, and Self-Reliance – inspired him to write “Civil Disobedience.” In the following sections, I use an analytical framework based on the principles to analyze Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience.” First, Thoreau concretizes the Over-Soul through his jail experience, huckleberry-picking activity, and his ability to sympathize with others. He then embodies Inner Divinity by emphasizing conscience and Higher Law. In expressing his distrust of the government, institutions, and the various iterations of the mainstream, he embraces Anti-Authority. Lastly, he demonstrates his belief in Self-Reliance by presenting illustrative examples,

highlighting the importance of the principle in spirit and action. In other words, “Civil Disobedience” is a political work that expresses the mystical, moral, political, and practical dimensions of Transcendentalism.

5.2 “I Did Not Feel Confined”: the Over-Soul in “Civil Disobedience”

The first Transcendentalist Principle, the Over-Soul, is a mystical belief that every soul is part of a universal soul and, therefore, all souls are connected. In “Civil Disobedience,” I contend that Thoreau exhibits his belief in the Over-Soul in his relation with the Universe, Nature, and others by 1) reversing the meaning of the confined/ free, 2) picking huckleberries and 3) sympathizing with others.

5.2.1 Prison as an “Honorable Ground”: Access to the Universe

The ability to connect directly to the Universe without being restrained by the material obstacles is crucial to enacting the notion of the Over-Soul. Thoreau demonstrates this ability during his one night in jail; he accesses the Universe by inverting the meaning of the prison itself and embarking on a spiritual journey. The following examples show that Thoreau trusts more in the Over-Soul than in physical appearances.

First, Thoreau transforms the prison into a glorious house. In his mind, it is no

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longer a place of criminality but a “more free and honorable ground” (157) and “the true place for a just man” (157). Thoreau has confidence in the Over-Soul, and thus physical imprisonment or earthly penalties do not bother him. While according to worldly standards, he violates laws, in terms of universal values, he is the most sincere and qualified inhabitant of the Universe, because he still remembers his connection with the Over-Soul. For Thoreau, a violation of civil law is less serious than a deviation from the Over-Soul. He prefers being jailed for righteousness and his belief in the Over-Soul to being considered an obedient subject who neglects the Over-Soul.

Not until the night in jail does Thoreau recognize the strength of his connection to and faith in the Over-Soul. The temporal deprivation of physical freedom forces him to reconsider his relationship with the Over-Soul. His soul and thoughts transcend material boundaries. The walls of the prison cannot deter him from accessing the Universe and recognizing the Over-Soul:

I did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar ... I could not help but smile to see how industriously they locked the door on my meditation, which followed them out again without let or hindrance, and they were really all that was dangerous. (161)

Physical confinement does not equate to mental confinement. While jail confines the body, the mind remains free to roam. Thoreau distinguishes physical incarceration from mental imprisonment, reversing the meaning of locking up a prisoner. Indeed, physical confinement, ultimately, leads to spiritual emancipation. Recognizing the existence of the Over-Soul by accessing the Universe, Thoreau comes to see a prison as a place of honesty and prisoners like him as just men. Thoreau’s ability to

transform material disadvantage into spiritual transcendence testifies to his faith in the Over-Soul.

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Besides seeing the prison into a place of honor, Thoreau transforms his

incarceration into a spiritual journey throughout the Universe, outfitting the town of Concord in the exotic and ancient clothes of a medieval manor and rendering himself a chivalric knight of old. In doing so, Thoreau strengthens his attachment to his hometown:

It was to see my native village in the light of the middle ages, and our Concord was turned into a Rhine stream, and visions of knights and castles passed before me. They were the voices of old burghers that I heard in the streets. I was an involuntary spectator and auditor of whatever was done and said in the kitchen of the adjacent village-inn, – a wholly new and rare experience to me. It was a closer view of my native town. I was fairly inside of it. (164)

Unrestrained by time and place, Thoreau saunters spiritually. On the macrocosmic level, he sees no much difference between the past and the present (the medieval vs.

the nineteenth century), or the foreign and the local (European Rhine vs. American Concord). For the adherents of the Over-Soul, temporal and spatial differences disappear: all individual souls link together and belong to a universal soul.

When Thoreau returns to reality on the microcosmic level, he finds that this spiritual journey has strengthened his sensual abilities and reinforced his sense of belonging to his hometown. He successfully incorporates the apparently irreconcilable oppositions – the physical/spiritual, the restrained/unrestrained, the foreign/local, and the past/present – into his Transcendentalist philosophy. As a believer in the Over-Soul, he views these dualities as merely two sides of the same universal coin. Thus, in describing his the imprisonment, Thoreau reveals his connection to the Over-Soul, inverting the conventional understanding of imprisonment and transcending temporal and spatial boundaries.

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5.2.2 “In the Midst of a Huckleberry Field”: Access to Nature

In “Thoreau,” Emerson claims that Thoreau’s interest in “the flower or the bird lay very deep in his mind” (362) and that he was “connected with Nature” (362). In

“Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau depicts his affection for the natural world in the

huckleberrying episode during which he realizes that 1) Nature is more important than civilization and 2) communing with Nature can serve as a method of “alternative politics” (Mariotti 130). As soon as he is released from jail, Thoreau leads a party of friends into a huckleberry field to pick fruit; his friends rely on his familiarity with Nature and name him captain of the berry picking team. Once they arrive at the huckleberry field, he has an epiphany about the relationship between huckleberrying and the jail sentence: “[When I] was in the midst of a huckleberry field, on one of our highest hills, two miles off; and then the State was nowhere to be seen” (165). The physical height of the hills evokes an experience of a spiritual transcendence. He realizes that the huckleberry field symbolizes nature, a space above civilization and thus primary, whereas civilization (the jail, the government, and the state) is

secondary and derivative.

In “Huckleberrying toward Democracy,” Mariotti sees huckleberrying as an expression of Thoreau’s “own particular version of democratic politics” (129). He may not lead a mass protest, but “he is willing to lead a huckleberry party” (130). In doing so, Thoreau can exert political influence on his friends while simultaneously communing with Nature. Thoreau draws a parallel between the huckleberrying excursion and his experience in jail. His expertise in Nature makes him an ideal huckleberrying guide, and his jail experience qualifies him to pilot political

discussions. Stemming from the principle of the Over-Soul, Thoreau’s huckleberrying blends enthusiasm for nature with political practice, epitomizing his attachment to the natural world and his unique, ethically driven approach to political participation.

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5.2.3 “I Must Get off Him First”: Access to Others

Believing that individual souls can understand one another, Thoreau displays his sympathy for others in the case of not “sitting upon another man’s shoulders” (153).

He wishes to avoid making himself complicit in injustice. He claims:

“If I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must first see, at least, that I do not pursue them sitting upon another man’s shoulders. I must get off him first, that he may pursue his contemplations too” (153).

Thoreau refuses to seek pleasure at the expense of his social inferiors or to take advantage of those who bear unfair burdens. He sympathizes with the suffering of others and does not want to be an oppressor; he exhibits his consideration by refusing to participate the wickedness that deprives others of their freedom and rights, viewing mutual consideration and sympathetic tolerance as fundamental to treating others well. Without accessing others, one unconsciously participates in atrocity and

disgrace; by accessing others, one can forge links between individual souls and to the Soul. The ability to understand one another is a vital component of the Over-Soul; by refusing to add to the burdens other bear and thereby allowing them to pursue their goals, Thoreau demonstrates and exercises the spirit of sympathy and accessing others.