Comparison of Thoreau and Gandhi

Both Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” and Mahatma Gandhi's "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March" are some of the most influential works of literature with a strong focus on protest. There are many differences, as well as similarities between these two great works. Gandhi had a strong influence in his writing from the works of Thoreau, and this can be seen in “On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March.” When reading these works it is easy to see the ties between the great authors that are Thoreau and Gandhi.

The first similarity in these two works is simply the subject matter. Obviously, Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” is about his protest, and Gandhi’s work speaks about a protest that is going to happen the following day of the writing of this essay (Gandhi). In, “Civil Disobedience,” Thoreau speaks of the poll tax, or tax placed on people rather than property often for the right to vote, that he refused to pay. In turn, he is arrested and spends some time in jail (Thoreau). He spends a lot of time talking about the injustice of charging someone for something that they are not a part of. Gandhi’s work, on the other hand, speaks mainly about the monopoly on salt (Gandhi). Both works revolve around a wrong or injustice that has been done by a large group that has an immense amount of power.

There is a main difference these two literary works, though; this being the way in which they are written. Thoreau uses a very personal point of view, speaking primarily of his own actions and opinions of the occurrences that happened to him during his protest of the poll tax (Thoreau). As for Gandhi, he seems to be speaking directly to the reader about how to take action and what must be done to make changes and corrections to the way that things are being done wrong at the time (Gandhi). One could argue that this makes Gandhi’s writing more aggressive in a sense in comparison to Thoreau, but the way in which he does it makes not like this at all. Rather, he makes the reader feel as if it is their choice to do what he suggests as means to protest the salt monopoly or agree with his opinions.

Though there are both differences and similarities between “Civil Disobedience” by Thoreau and "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March" by Gandhi, these are still some of the most influence works from the time of American Romanticism. These works embody the idea of protest of the wrongs and injustices done by organizations like government that have arguable too much control. These authors, in their own ways are able to tell their own stories of protest and how to protest respectively. It is easy to see the similarities, and this is understandable because of the fact that Gandhi was greatly influenced by the works of Thoreau, and it is almost ironic because of Gandhi’s use of the phrase “civil disobedience” in his work. These two important literary works will remain just that, important, for a long time because they serve as the model for the first works regarding protest.





Works Cited

Gandhi, Mahatma. "On the Eve of the Historic Dandi March." American Literature. Comp. Jeffory Willhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 229-30. Print.


Thoreau, Henry D. "Civil Disobedience." American Literature. Comp. Jeffory Willhelm. Columbus: McGraw Hill, 2009. 222-27. Print.