Dec 21, 2009

The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail | Characters

Bailey
Bailey is Henry's vagrant cellmate, who has landed in prison after he fell asleep in somebody's barn and burned it down by accident. Henry tries many times to talk to Bailey about his crusade against conformity, but Bailey is an uneducated man, who says he cannot even write his own name, much less understand Henry's preaching. Henry shows Bailey how to write his name but then encourages him to unlearn it, since writing will only get him in trouble. Bailey is excited to hear about Henry's place in Walden Woods and says that he [Henry] had a place to call...