Thoreau, Punk, & the Uncompromising Spirit

If there is one significant quality that is synonymous with both Thoreau and punk, it is an uncompromising sensibility. From an early age, Thoreau did not capitulate, did not give in, did not compromise when it came to values and beliefs. Such a firm conviction is what inspired him to quit his first teaching job rather than give in to the expectation, even the requirement, that he implement corporal punishment. He would not hit his students, and so he quit. The same can be for one of his most well-known revolutionary acts – the refusal to pay his taxes in protest of the Mexican-American War and to subsequently go to jail rather than capitulate, rather than compromise. 

Interestingly, just like Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols, Johnny Ramone, and pretty much the entire hardcore punk scene, Thoreau was often described as “prickly” and grumpy and not particularly concerned with making others happy. In The Adventures of Henry David Thoreau: a Young Man’s Unlikely Path to Walden Pond, Michael Sims writes how Thoreau “never strove to be popular and seemed not only resigned to not fitting in, but to sometimes revel in it.” For example, in some ways he was even dressing punk in the 1830s – while black was the standard dress for church, Thoreau might show up wearing green. He wore what he wanted, ate what he wanted, did what he wanted, and lived how he wanted, and he did so at a time and in a place that was much more reserved and homogeneous than the society where punk arose a century and a half later. 

So much of contemporary society, especially in terms of music and popular culture has always been about giving in, softening or amplifying an original vision in submission to a more popular and broader one. In fact, the record industry and consumer have so strictly demanded compromise, from song length to haircuts on the album cover, that such rules are a primary reason punk remained outside of the mainstream. For, truly, to become part of the mainstream there has to be compromise. If an uncompromising sense is paramount to punk, then the founder of Civil Disobedience must be the most punk of all. An uncompromising spirit is a key to punk, as it is a key to Thoreau.