Essential question
At what point does Thoreau's machine metaphor change from tolerating imperfection to requiring resistance?
Marked passage
- Passage location
- Resistance
- Start anchor
- If the injustice is part of the necessary friction of the machine of government
- End anchor
- that I do not lend myself to the wrong which I condemn.
Counter-friction
Ways to teach it
Listening
Listen to the exact passage; visual following is optional. Same question and evidence demand.
Solo
Read the exact passage independently.
Supported
Use narration and sentence highlighting while reading the same passage.
Teacher guide
Close
Name the single detail that most changed or sharpened your interpretation, and explain why.
Evidence
Use the tolerated-friction language and the condition that triggers active resistance.
Mark
Circle the language of machine, friction, and mechanism. Underline what Thoreau says can be tolerated. Star the condition under which he says the individual must become counter-friction.
Instructional move
Turn a machine metaphor into a threshold for action
Notice
• What kinds of governmental imperfection does Thoreau initially allow? • What changes when injustice requires a person’s own cooperation? • How does the machine metaphor help define a threshold between inconvenience and moral complicity?
Strong answer
The threshold comes when friction is no longer an incidental imperfection and the person is required to become an agent of injustice. At that point Thoreau says resistance must become counter-friction.
Think
Answer provisionally: At what point does Thoreau's machine metaphor change from tolerating imperfection to requiring resistance? Choose the strongest interpretation you can defend from this passage alone.
Watch for
Do not treat every flaw in government as requiring rebellion. The metaphor defines a specific threshold of complicity.
Why this passage
The machine metaphor lets Thoreau tolerate ordinary friction until the government requires a person to become an active agent of injustice. At that point, resistance becomes 'counter-friction': the threshold is participation, not mere imperfection.
Write
Write a short evidence-based response to: At what point does Thoreau's machine metaphor change from tolerating imperfection to requiring resistance? Use at least two details from the assigned passage and explain how they support your interpretation.
Student tasks
Mark
Circle the language of machine, friction, and mechanism. Underline what Thoreau says can be tolerated. Star the condition under which he says the individual must become counter-friction.
Notice
What kinds of governmental imperfection does Thoreau initially allow? What changes when injustice requires a person’s own cooperation? How does the machine metaphor help define a threshold between inconvenience and moral complicity?
Think
Answer provisionally: At what point does Thoreau's machine metaphor change from tolerating imperfection to requiring resistance?
Write
Write a short response using at least two pieces of evidence from this passage. Use evidence from the assigned passage. Show what you noticed and how the text supports your interpretation.