Irony embraces The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail. It’s everywhere. My favorite ironic part is when Edward and Henry are searching for Huckleberries. Edward gets a giant basket full of berries, and then trips and falls. He begins to cry because he’s lost his berries, but then Henry turns the entire situation around by saying, “Well, it’s a good thing to spill em’! Now you’ve planted an entire patch of Huckleberries, an entire patch for Edward Emerson.” Then they go to find more berries, with the sole purpose of spilling them over. Very ironic, they go to the meadow for berries and end up leaving most of them on the ground? Interesting. The other very ironic conversation was the one between the Thoreau brothers, talking about Ellen Sewell. John evidentially proposed, and Ellen declined. That should have been a sad moment, but they are uncontrollably laughing? Very ironic.

     The first very important character is Henry Thoreau himself. I would have Tom Hiddleston play Henry, because in the Thor movies Tom is always playing a part that is searching for something greater – a part that, even though it’s evil, is always dreaming of the future and wisely portraying it. The next important character is Bailey. I think Johnny Depp would play a great Bailey. Bailey sounds like a hill-billy drunk to me, and Johnny Depp plays a great part like that in Pirates of the Caribbean. Lastly, John was very important. I think Chris Hemsworth would play a great John. Partially because Chris and Tom have worked so greatly as brothers in the Thor movies, and partially because Chris is awesome at playing a wise and superior part in the movies he’s been in.

     Henry’s protest to the world does not prove successful – most of the world hasn’t heard of Transcendentalism, let alone lives it; or at least I don’t know anyone that thinks in this way. But was his goal itself to change the way other people thought, or was he just trying to change himself? If he was concerned to live his own life, I think he was very successful. He ended the book by leaving the city, going out into the world, and I imagine he’d lead a life of people into his way of thinking. So in this way, for his own good, he was very successful. But as for the rest of the world, so far, the idea isn’t that popular that I know of.

     Huckleberries were used in ‘The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail’ as symbolism to the classroom’s ideas. It was put something like, “We’re searching for ideas the way you search for huckleberries in the forest.” I was altogether surprised at all the symbolism and wise notes in the text, especially this one. If these quotes are anywhere close to accurate, Henry Thoreau was a very wise man at a very young age. He understood the world completely in his own words, he refused to let the ideas of others come in the way. I really liked his quickness to responding to the simplest of things with a wise answer, and the huckleberry part was no exception. The principal comes in and asks what the class is doing. Most teachers would try to answer something along the lines of, “Discussing the text,” or “Responding to what we read,” or anything simple and unsuspicious like that. Something that doesn’t get them in trouble. But Mr. Thoreau answers, “We’re huckleberrying, sir.” Searching for ideas like people search for huckleberries in the forest. Maybe it was just me, but I couldn’t help but think when I read that; “So is the whole world huckleberrying?” Everyone is searching for something. Whether it be peace, or happiness, or something else; everyone is constantly searching, or ‘Huckleberrying’ for what they want. It’s a piece of symbolism that could relate to the whole world, couldn’t it?