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The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Study Guide

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by Jerome Lawrence
About 74 pages (22,148 words)
The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail Summary

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Themes

Freedom

The overriding message in the play is the struggle for freedom, which manifests itself in several ways. The idea of racial freedom is addressed through the many references to slavery. During the play, Henry meets a slave, Williams, who plans to go "North as I kin git! They say the Norther ya git, the free-er ya git!" However, although Henry supports Williams's escape to Canada, he warns him that men in the north are not free, either: "Every man shackled to a ten-hour-a-day is a work-slave. Every man who has to worry about next month's rent is a money-slave."

This idea of being chained to institutions, even within a free society, is expressed further through Henry's individual struggle. When he is confronted by Sam Staples, the friendly constable tells Henry he has to pay.....

This is a free excerpt of 135 words. This section contains 1,157 words. This study guide contains 22,148 words (approx. 74 pages at 300 words per page).

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The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail from BookRags and Gale's For Students Series. ©2005-2006 Thomson Gale, a part of the Thomson Corporation. All rights reserved.

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