Vietnam
Although far less essential today than it was at the time it was written, a pervasive theme running throughout the play is the link between why Henry is in jail and the then-contemporary news of resistance to the war in Vietnam. Thoreau’s defiant and seemingly bull-headed refusal to pay his taxes is ultimately revealed as an act of rebellion against what he considers an immoral and unjust war perpetrated by Pres. Polk against Mexicans. The parallel to Vietnam and Presidents Johnson and Nixon would have been all but impossible to overlook during the first few decades following publication. Today, of course, one can easily draw parallels to the invasion of Iraq, but the thematic link is one directly tying the Mexican War to the Vietnam War.
Iconoclastic Non-Conformity
Henry David Thoreau is presented as a character who is not easily understood even by those closest to him. His mother doesn’t get him. The Constable likes him well enough, but will never be able to comprehend his preference to stay in jail rather than have his tax problem fixed. Even his mentor, friend and partner-in-Transcendentalism—Ralph Waldo Emerson—can’t get into his head. He loses a potential romantic partner because she definitely doesn’t understand him and even his rival for her who loses out for much the same reason—his own brother—carries a little too much practicality and pragmatism to be exactly where Henry stands. What really marks Henry’s character—thematically speaking—is his increasingly manic replies to any suggestion that life is better if you just “go along.” Getting along with the world demands conformity and that is trait foreign to Henry.
Civil Disobedience
One of Henry David Thoreau’s most famous essays arose directly from the historical events covered by the narrative of this play. “Civil Disobedience” would guide such figures as Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. in the manner in which they confronted oppressive techniques conducted by repressive regimes. Rather than resorting to violence of any manner to express his moral disapproval of the Mexican War, Thoreau’s act of disobedience was conducted in a civil manner. His imprisonment proved capable of meeting his end without the means sacrificing his own morality.
