''The Service'' is an essay written in 1840 by
Henry David Thoreau. He submitted it to ''
The Dial
''The Dial'' was an American magazine published intermittently from 1840 to 1929. In its first form, from 1840 to 1844, it served as the chief publication of the Transcendentalists. From the 1880s to 1919 it was revived as a political review and ...
'' for publication, but they declined to print it. It was not published until after Thoreau's death.
The essay uses war and military discipline as
metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that, for rhetorical effect, directly refers to one thing by mentioning another. It may provide (or obscure) clarity or identify hidden similarities between two different ideas. Metaphors are often compared wi ...
s that, as Thoreau would have it, can instruct us in how to order and conduct our lives.
Themes
''The Service'' is in part a contrarian swipe at the many pacifist writers and lecturers whose teachings on "
nonresistance Nonresistance (or non-resistance) is "the practice or principle of not resisting authority, even when it is unjustly exercised". At its core is discouragement of, even opposition to, physical resistance to an enemy. It is considered as a form of pri ...
" were then very much in vogue, in part thanks to
Christian anarchist
Christian anarchism is a Christian movement in political theology that claims anarchism is inherent in Christianity and the Gospels. It is grounded in the belief that there is only one source of authority to which Christians are ultimately an ...
and pacifist
Adin Ballou who spoke on the subject at the Concord Lyceum on occasion and who founded the
New England Non-Resistance Society (of which
William Lloyd Garrison
William Lloyd Garrison (December , 1805 – May 24, 1879) was a prominent American Christian, abolitionist, journalist, suffragist, and social reformer. He is best known for his widely read antislavery newspaper '' The Liberator'', which he foun ...
was also a leader, and a Lyceum speaker as well).
Thoreau debated the subject "Is it ever proper to offer forcible resistance?" in a formal Lyceum debate (arguing the affirmative) in 1841, and surviving records of the Lyceum note that the subject came up many times in debates, discussions, and lectures.
Thoreau's own views were very much influenced by these non-resistants, and are often confused with them even today. When
Amos Bronson Alcott
Amos Bronson Alcott (; November 29, 1799 – March 4, 1888) was an American teacher, writer, philosopher, and reformer. As an educator, Alcott pioneered new ways of interacting with young students, focusing on a conversational style, and a ...
resisted his taxes to protest war and slavery, three years before Thoreau would resist his taxes over the same issues, Alcott's action was explained within the context of "non-resistant" philosophy. When Thoreau explained his own tax resistance, he took pains to distinguish his theory from theirs, titling his essay ''
Resistance to Civil Government''.
In ''The Service'', Thoreau tosses barbs at the non-resistance preachers, warning his readers that pacifism can be a temptation to passivity:
Note
On-line text
*
*
''The Service''at sniggle.net.
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Printed sources
* ''My Thoughts are Murder to the State'' by Henry David Thoreau ()
* ''The Service'' by Henry David Thoreau ()
* ''The Higher Law: Thoreau on Civil Disobedience and Reform'' ()
* ''Collected Essays and Poems'' by Henry David Thoreau ()
{{DEFAULTSORT:Service, The
1840 essays
Essays by Henry David Thoreau