Custom essays on Satire as a Form Of Social Criticism in Works by Ralph Ellison and Henry Thoreau

Ralph Ellison uses numerous satirical techniques in order to present American society of his times. Satire helps him to depict true intentions of different social groups. Representatives of the white group do not hide their purpose to assimilate the African-American to the American culture and destroy their identity. Here a bright example is Brockway’s descriptions of the white paint, which may whiten any darkness. On the other hand, it appear that African-American Brotherhood is not aimed to protect individual identity. Propagating ideas of equality an independence, in fact it also limits people’s freedom and exclude personalities who are too bright or have their own opinion considering different subjects. Due to this Ellison’s ability to reveal the truth through the satiric events presenting his book has become a subject of great debates and arguments.
Henry David Thoreau is an American writer, essayist, critic and philosopher. He was born in Massachusetts and got education in Harvard. Thoreau and Ralph Emerson founded the Transcendental Club. Thoreau wrote articles for The Dial. Originally he was ordered natural articles about local flora and fauna. His first articles were “Natural History of Massachusetts”, “A Walk to Wachusett”, “A Winter Walk”. Later he continued writing for The Dial and wrote more than forty articles for it. His interest in nature became one of his main interests in his life. He gladly spent time in nature and gladly shared his experience with his readers: “I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with freedom and culture merely civil, – to regard man as an inhabitant, or part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of a society”(Thoreau 16).
He is famous not only for his essay and articles about nature. His works were diverse and covered multiple themes and topics. As he himself wrote: “The fact is I am a mystic, a transcendentalist, and a natural philosopher to boot” (Thoreau 20). Thoreau had many hobbies and he was interested in many things. He was good at many things he did in life. Thoreau spent several years living in a hut he built himself. He wrote many his significant works there. At the same time people who believe he was a lonely hermit are mistaken. As states his friend Edward Emerson, Thoreau enjoyed people and society and found many nice things in the contemporary life.

Thoreau’s lonely life is partially conditioned by his attachment to nature. He enjoyed spending time in nature and used every possible moment to spend some time in nature.
Thoreau died at the age of 44 years and left rich literary prophesy, which includes not only books, but the writings in Journal, which makes about 20 volumes. His literary style is rich and complex. Sometimes it contains contradictions but different kinds of readers find things which are suitable personally for them. He used his power of word to make his readers to think about important issues and serious problems. Despite Thoreau illuminated important themes in his works his main accent was to make his reader to look at themselves and to reestimate their life values and goals. Being a creative person Thoreau wanted his readers to change their ordinary way of thinking and to see new opportunities and new ways in their lives. Thoreau had complex relations with the government. He was imprisoned for not paying a tax and this became one of the reason of his decision to distance himself from social life and governmental institutions. He used his sharp words to express his attitude to authorities. “Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison” (Thoreau 42). He was not satisfied with current social order and social structure and expressed his protest against it. He is famous for his passive resistance and his example was often used by Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King. As Thoreau noted “Unjust laws exist: shall we be content to obey them, or shall we endeavour to amend them, and obey them until we have succeeded, or shall we transgress them at once” (Thoreau 33).
Thoreau’s social position was strong and evident. He reject contemporary governmental structure and used his literary gift to attract people’s attention to the vices of the contemporary society. Thoreau expressed his social position in the form of sharp criticism. Thoreau used not only his literary genius. He also tried to perform active actions in order to express his social position. In 1846 Thoreau refused to pay taxes and was imprisoned for one night. He explained his refusal as a form of the protest against the policy of the government. He protested against Mexican-American war and slavery. Thoreau wanted to turn the attention of publicity to these problems. He was quickly freed against his will when his aunt paid the taxes for him. But still this accident made a strong impression on Thoreau. He stared the course of lecture called “The Rights and Duties of the Individual in relation to Government” in 1948 at the Concord Lyceum. One of the listeners of the lectures, Bronson Alcott expressed his fascination with Thoreau’s political credo: “Heard Thoreau’s lecture before the Lyceum on the relation of the individual to the State – an admirable statement of the rights of the individual to self-government, and an attentive audience. His allusions to the Mexican War, to Mr. Hoar’s expulsion from Carolina, his own imprisonment in Concord Jail for refusal to pay his tax, Mr. Hoar’s payment of mine when taken to prison for a similar refusal, were all pertinent, well considered, and reasoned. I took great pleasure in this deed of Thoreau’s. (Bronson Alcott, Journals). Later this lecture became the source of an essay which was title “Resistance to Civil Government” which was published in 1949. Thoreau used the form of social criticism, applied by Percy Shelley in his political poem The Mask of Anarchy. In this poem Shelley starts with enumerating atrocities and vices of the contemporary governmental forms and then passes to ideal form of the government. Thoreau also used this form in his essay. Many critics and researches believe that Thoreau was anarchist and rejected any form of political power. His political credo can be briefly expressed in these citation: “I heartily accept the motto – ‘That government is best which governs least;’ and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out it finally amounts to this, which also I believe, – ‘That government is best which governs not at all’ (Thoreau 78).
He believed that the government was the form of social pressure which turned people into slaves and did not let them to develop their personalities. Political and social power he regarded only at the instruments of suppression and believed that new type of society should have be founded on different principles and ideas. Thoreau himself changed his position of social protest to fascination with nature and natural way of life. He was looking for alternative ways of life which would make a normal alternative to the contemporary social structure. His philosophical work Walden describes his life in nature and contains important thoughts and ideas about human development. Thoreau incorporated his experience and his thoughts in this work which he wanted to become a guidelines for those who want to escape the burned of social responsibility and to find peace and live in harmony of nature. Thoreau dedicates a lot of attention to the question of personal growth and self-improvement. He believed that contemporary society deprived people of the opportunity for personal growth and development .Dominating social structure became the source of limitation for people who did not want to follow order and regulations. “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all his own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly” (Thoreau 13) He himself wanted to find ways which would enable people to grow physically and emotionally and would not suppress them. He pays much attention to healthy way of life and rejects alcohol and nicotine. Harmony with nature he also considered to be an important part of normal and happy existence.
Both, Henry Thoreau and Ralph Ellison use satire in their works to turn public attention to the burning problems of the contemporary society. Ralph Ellison uses the mixture of literary genre and publicist genre in his famous work Invisible Man. He uses literary technique to create necessary emotional appeal and attract the attention of his readers to the problem. Henry Thoreau uses the power of his word and strong logic proofs in order to express critics of the contemporary social structure.

 
Works Cited
Ellison, Ralph. Invisible Man. New York: Vintage, 1989.
Foley, Barbara. “Reading Redness: Politics and Audience in Ralph Ellison’s Early Short Fiction.” JNT: Journal of Narrative Theory 29: 323-39, 1999.
Henry David Thoreau : A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers / Walden / The Maine Woods / Cape Cod, by Henry David Thoreau, Library of America, 1998.
Thoreau, H. D. Resistance to Civil Government,