"Makes you want to throw a brick..."

13 September 2021: After reading Walden, I finished up Thoreau with my ENGL 312 class today with a discussion of "Civil Disobedience." This is a small but dedicated class, with smart ideas and strong opinions. They struggled with Thoreau's persona at times as we moved through Walden but were so much more welcoming of the version of him they see in this essay. I wanted us to think and talk about why. My post's title was one student's answer: he moved them and motivated them or tapped into something they were feeling. 

I told them that I was wondering what difference it made that they are the age they are at this particular moment, where the world seems so lost and broken. They nodded enthusiastically and talked about the "hermit" urge vs. the "throw a brick" urge. One student said something that I will think about for a while: "We've just come out of isolation. We want to do something now--for other people, with other people." 

Just a great discussion all around.