Question

Analyze Thoreau's choice to use rhetorical questions in this paragraph. How do the rhetorical questions contribute to the essay's power? Be sure to include specific details from the text to support your answer. (10 points)

Answer 1

Thoreau’s use of rhetorical questions in his essay has multiple advantages. One being that it makes the essay interactive – in the sense that it involves the audience – and causes the reader to think about the question at hand for themselves. Rhetorical questions are typically used to help prove points, as they remind the audience of the obvious or non-existent answer. The quote “Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?” supports this idea, and Thoreau’s argument, because it causes the audience to think about the obvious answer for themselves. Not only this but it allows the audience to perceive the answer however they want or think deeper into it. The obvious answer is that the citizen should never be less important than the legislator – which is what the government is trying to make happen. This answer will cause the audience to get on Thoreau’s side because they are the citizens being mistreated in this situation.

Answer 2

By using rhetorical questions, Thoreau appeals to all American citizens, elevating the tone and mood of the text. These questions pertain to problems that are universal for all Americans (and all people in general). Rhetorical questions either don't have an answer, or, as in this case, they have an obvious one, so that it doesn't need confirming. However, obvious though it may be, this answer is still applicable only in theory - and that's what Thoreau was trying to change.

Thoreau argues that democracy should be better than it is now. It shouldn't be about numbers of people who vote for or against something, but about the essence of things, such as human conscience. Such as it is, democracy has gone long way from serving the citizens to becoming an end in itself. It has become self-sufficient and alienated. It has become the state's tool, rather than the citizens'. "Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator?" - The legislator shouldn't be more important than the citizen. The law shouldn't be more important than justice. "We should be men first, and subjects afterward" - citizens should be perceived in their own right, and not according to their loyalty to the state. In other words, all of us are individuals, rather than just members of a nation, or voters.