Thoreau Rhetorical Analysis

P. 112, "Society is commonly..."

Thoreau’s novel addresses generally applicable life anecdotes in an extremely personal way, making his words hit home with any audience.  Here specifically, Thoreau’s deliberate structure of his paragraph, use of parallel structure, and tone attribute to his success of getting his philosophy that we do no value others to hit home in a simplistically eloquent way.

Thoreau begins his paragraph with his aphorism that “society is commonly too cheap” which grabs and holds on to the readers attention- he gets right to the point. He follows this up in a unique way- with what you would think he would use to build up to the aphorism. He gives a real life example, in this case eating meals or working in a factory, and then concludes with another philosophically loaded aphorism. Thoreau masterfully gets down to the core of his general truth, through which he is able to maintain the readers attention, and spotlight the point that we do not value others and do not recognize the deeper parts of others, without over explaining or creating a hyperbole out of it.

Thoreau also uses parallelism with “we” for the bulk of his paragraph, further pressing that men, humans, are the ones devaluing other humans and taking them “cheaply”. “We” is used to reinforce that humans create routine, and by creating routine, we don’t appreciate the true value of others. By using “we” repetitively, Thoreau manages to press that collectively as humans, himself included, we are guilty of this. 

The tone of this paragraph also weighs heavily on Thoreau’s ethos as well as his awareness of his audience. He has control of every word with his calm voice and short sentences. He nonchalantly transitions from aphorism to support for the aphorism, which through not drawing attention to it actually draws attention to it. Having such control over his words and how he says them builds Thoreau’s ethos and gives what he says a confident tone. It also keeps in mind the audience- the everyday person. By presenting such a heavy idea in such a simple and nonchalant way, Thoreau makes what he is saying accessible to the everyday reader.

Thoreau is skillful in his argument. His carefully crafted paragraphs, use of parallelism to develop his argument, and his controlled tone work proficiently to support his statement that we take each other for granted and at surface level.