Question

excerpt from \civil disobedience\
by henry david thoreau
1 it is not a man’s duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the
eradication of any, even the most enormous, wrong; he may still properly
have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his
hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically
his support. if i devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, i
must first see, at least, that i do not pursue them sitting upon another
man’s shoulders. i must get off him first, that he may pursue his
contemplations too. see what gross inconsistency is tolerated. i have
heard some of my townsmen say, “i should like to have them order me
out to help put down an insurrection of the slaves, or to march to mexico;
— see if i would go”; and yet these very men have each, directly by their
allegiance, and so indirectly, at least, by their money, furnished¹ a
substitute. the soldier is applauded who refuses to serve in an unjust war
by those who do not refuse to sustain the unjust government which
makes the war; is applauded by those whose own act and authority he
disregards and sets at naught;² as if the state were penitent³ to that
degree that it differed one to scourge⁴ it while it sinned, but not to that
degree that it left off sinning for a moment. thus, under the name of
order and civil government, we are all made at last to pay homage to
and support our own meanness. after the first blush of sin comes its
indifference; and from immoral it becomes, as it were, unmoral, and not
quite unnecessary to that life which we have made.

¹ furnish (verb): to provide; to be a source of
² zero
³ penitent (adjective): feeling or expressing remorse for having done wrong
⁴ to whip as punishment

analyzing the author’s point of view: excerpt from “civil disobedience”
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paragraph 1

1. which statement best describes

the author’s perspective on how
citizens should address injustice?
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part 2.
a. citizens should promise to
repair wartime injustice.
b. citizens should continue to
ignore societal injustice.
c. citizens should attempt to
write about religious injustice.
d. citizens should refuse to
participate in governmental
injustice.

Explanation:

To solve this, we analyze each option against the excerpt:

• Option A: The excerpt doesn't mention promising to repair wartime injustice. Eliminate A.
• Option B: The author emphasizes not supporting injustice, not ignoring it. Eliminate B.
• Option C: Religious injustice isn't a focus; the text is about governmental/ societal injustice. Eliminate C.
• Option D: The excerpt states citizens should not support unjust government (e.g., "wash his hands of it", "refuse to serve in an unjust war", "not to sustain the unjust government"), so refusing to participate in governmental injustice matches.

Answer:

D. Citizens should refuse to participate in governmental injustice.