American Literature    Reading Journals for Thoreau

Pick the question that you feel that you can answer the most completely.
There is no one question that is "better" than the other one

1. Emerson was Thoreau's mentor. Explain how you see Thoreau reflecting Emerson's ideas and values in his own life, based on what you've read   answer this journal 
     
   
2. How valid are Thoreau's views on "simple" life when even in his own isolation, he was close to town and would regularly go back in to town for a hot meal?   answer this journal
   
   
3. Thoreau only spent ONE night in jail -- why does he make such a big deal out of such a minor incident?   answer this journal
   
   
4. Thoreau was basically unread and definitely unappreciated in his own life. Why did 20th century readers appreciate him so much more, to the point that Gandhi, Nelson Mandela and Martin Luther King, Jr. all cited him as a specific influence, not to mention the counterculture of the 60's?  answer this journal