Chapter 8, To Make a Better World Summary and Analysis

This is a flashback chapter. One day while Thoreau is still living at Walden Pond, he goes into town to have a shoe repaired and is thrown in jail by his friend Sam Staples. This jailkeeper has to arrest Henry because he has refused to pay a tax. He refuses because he fears that some of his money will go toward fighting the Mexican American War. Like Abraham Lincoln, Thoreau sees no reason to fight the Mexicans and is afraid new Mexican land will become slave territory.

Emerson comes to visit him in jail and asks, "Henry, why are you there?" And Henry answers, "Waldo, why are you not here?"

An unidentified woman wearing a veil comes and pays the tax Henry owes, but once he's free he writes and article...