Resistance to Civil Government

Thoreau in his argument that government is cold and not bound by a moral compass described soldiers as hard and unfeeling. They are nothing but machines that have been brainwashed to subscribe absolutely to the cause of their government. Joe, however, in Johnny Got His Gun, is only a boy. He barely knew his reasons for war; all he wanted to do was stay home and take care of his beloved Kareen. As he lay dying, he thinks about all of his explanations for going to war, and not a single one made sense. He was a scared boy, not an insentient block of stone.

On page 841 Thoreau says that it is good for a man to wholly cast himself into a cause he truly believes in as long as it doesn't interfere with the dreams of another. The US government does not do this for Joe. They use their authority to shove him into an undesired environment regardless of his personal objections. His plans take a back-seat to the objectives of the government, and he is told that his life is expendable in the fight for "liberty." The word, nothing more. Thoreau proposes this only as the ideal.