Democracy in Civil Disobedience, Slavery in Massachusetts, Benito Ceren

The Oppression of republic Exposed in Civil Disobedience, slaveholding in Massachusetts, Benito Cereno and Bartleby the Scrivener the States has long been recognized as a democratic rural ara, a nation operating under the will of the people. The forefathers of the States fought incessantly against British totalism to start anew in a land of freedom and opportunity. Because America revived the ancient Greek ideology of democracy, the nation was set asunder from the rest of the world and was revered for the freedom and justice it provided its people. However, non everyone thinks that American democracy means freedom and liberty. On the contrary, writers such as hydrogen David Thoreau in Civil Disobedience and Slavery in Massachusetts, along with Herman Melville in Benito Cereno and Bartleby the Scrivener, suggest that democracy can actually oppress and restrict the individual. In Civil Disobedience, Thoreau criticizes the American political sympathies for its democratic nature , namely, the idea of majority ruling. standardised earlier transcendentalists, such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau believes in the importance of the individual. In a society where there are many individuals with conflicting perceptions and beliefs, Emerson chooses passivity and closing off to avoid conflict with others. However, unlike Emerson, Thoreau rejects passivity and challenges his readers to stand up against the government that focuses on majorities over individuals. Thoreau argues that when power is in the hands of the people, the majority rules, non because they are most likely to be in the right, nor because this seems fairest to the minority, but because they are physically the strongest (Thoreau 64). Thoreau portrays this very fundamental element of democracy, w... ...t the tyrannical majority and go whatever measures necessary, but Melville simply exposes the repressive nature of democracy and leaves it at that. However, Melville does point out, through Benito Ce reno and Bartleby, the Scrivener, that simply rebelling against democracy, as Thoreau proposes, is not the answer. Perhaps Melville does not have a solution, just as Bartleby did not. Nonetheless, to both writers, democracy continues to be a despotic institution. Works Cited and Consulted Melville, Herman. Bartleby and Benito Cereno. Dover Publications, Inc. New York. 1993. Thoreau, Henry D. Slavery in Massachusetts. Reform Papers. Ed. Wendell Glick. Princeton, NJ Princeton UP, 1973. 91-109. ----- Civil Disobedience from A conception of Ideas - Essential Readings for College Readers, Lee A. Jacobus, Bedford Books, 1998, 1849(123 -146)