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Civil Disobedience: Historical And Literary Analysis

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Civil Disobedience: Historical And Literary Analysis
Ellison utilizes historical and literary allusions to equate the Harlequin to real men of conscience who succeed in changing society. Harlan Ellison directly alludes to Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience” essay. Thoreau argues the most moral men, “heroes, patriots, martyrs, reformers, in the great sense, and men, serve the state with their consciences” (Civil Disobedience, 1849), yet the majority of men are not serving with their consciences. The men serving with their consciences are able to serve society at a level superior to the non-conscious ones, as consciousness give these syndicates a moral view of a
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