Enhancing the self: a Bakhtinian reading of Henry David Thoreau's political writings

Abstract

Henry David Thoreau, an all encompassing figure in the American scene of the 19th century, the transcendentalist, theist, temperate revolutionary, individualist, libertarian, humanitarian and pragmatist, is mainly preoccupied in his writings with an integrated and powerful political philosophy. As a sensitive political theorist, with a rich appreciation of the breadths and depth of human freedom, he as come to realize both negative and positive sides of American society. Thoreau's economics addresses directly the hegemony in the social institutions, the divisions of labor and slavery. Thoreau's individual self explores the multiple dimensions of his own self and grows to maturity in the context of the social ideology if his time. In the light of Mikhail Bakhtin's theory of Dialogism this paper aims to detect the social persona of Henry David Thoreau and depict the carnivalization of the social ideolody of Thoreau's time in his critical writings. Bakhtin insisted that life by its very nature is dialogic and to be means to communicate; inevitably this dialogism occurs in a social environment and the understanding of the utterance in this social context. Moreover this study specifically attempts to investigate Thoreau's ideological statements in his political writings to argue the influence of social and political agendas on his persona as a social activist. Finally, this paper specifically examines the cultural heritage in the context of American society of thoreau's time to identify and shed light on enhancement of the "social self" in his political voice.