Monday, February 13, 2012

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail, Act II

The three most important characters are Henry, Waldo, and Lydian. Here is why they are important:
-Henry: Henry is avidly following the goals of trancsendentilism. He is very content with it, but no one gets why he lives out in the middle of "no where" and when he tries to explain what he finds disagreeable about most people, people aren't willing to here it or to change and adapt to a new way of life.
-Waldo: Waldo seems to be exactly the type of person the Henry finds it hard to work with. He is constantly talking about stuff, but what annoys Henry is that he nevers seems to do what he tells others that he should.
-Lydian: Lydian seems confused and annoyed with the arguments between Waldo and Henry. It seems like she just wants them to agree, and also like she feels that she has to choose between them. Lydian just wants peace between Henry and Waldo.
In the end, Henry did not win the argument. His point was that taxes shouldn't be paid, and that you can't make a person do something that they don't want to, but in the end his taxes get paid for him, and he is forced out of jail.
On page 98 Henry and Sam (the sheriff) are arguing over if Henry can stay in jail. Sam says "Now stop pokin' around tryin' to get me to tell. I promised your Aunt Louisa I wouldn't open my..." which is about as obvious as irony can get. Another example of irony is when  Waldo gives his speech about doing this-or-that, but he doesn't do it himself.

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