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Reflective essay on critical reading and writing
Loneliness Henry David Thoreau
THOREAU: wHER iLIVED AND wHAT iLEDFOR aNALYSIS
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Henry David Thoreau writes about the differences between solitude and loneliness. To start, solitude is the state of wanting to be alone, while loneliness is the state of being alone because no one wants to be there. Thoreau takes the side that there is no such thing as loneliness and that there is something there to always occupy oneself; no matter if that something is someone or something mentally. The author expresses his ideas by using a farmer, student, mornings and praying. Ultimately, Thoreau develops his ideas through everyday people and tasks to express his idea that there is no such thing as loneliness as someone is always being occupied by something or someone.
Thoreau discusses one of his many ideas between solitude and loneliness using a farmer
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To begin, the college student is always in solitude, but does not feel lonely because he is always occupied by the tough work that the school provides him or is just studying. In a passage from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden,” the author states,”The really diligent student in one of the crowded hives of Cambridge College is as solitary as a dervish in the desert”(Thoreau, 12). On the other hand, the farmer feels solitude when working because he is
Throughout a series of books, and now movies known as Divergent they hit a lot of points as to what is believed as a “good society”. In the series, Divergent all must conform and fall into a certain category Dauntless, Abnegation, Erudite, Candor, or Amity . If one fails to do so, and falls into all of the categories they are known as “Divergent," and must be killed for failing to conform to traditional society standards and rules. This relates to Civil Disobedience by Henry David Thoreau, because he talks about humans not needing a form of structure set by a hierarchy, such as a government. A good society according to Thoreau, is one with little to no government involvement, one that respects laws to a certain extent, and one that follows
On August 29th, 2005, Hurricane Katrina, the most expensive hurricane in American history, made landfall in Louisiana with winds of one hundred and twenty-seven miles per hour (“Hurricane Katrina Statistics Fast Facts”). The sheer magnitude of the amount of lives and property lost was enormous, and it was triggered simply by warm ocean waters near the Bahamas ("How Hurricane Katrina Formed"). Nature was indifferent to whether the raging winds and rain would die off in the ocean or wipe out cities; it only follows the rules of physics. A multitude of American authors has attempted to give accounts and interpretations of their encounters with the disinterested machine that is nature. Two authors, Stephen Crane and Henry David Thoreau, had rather contrasting and conflicting interpretations of their own interactions with nature. Crane’s work, “The Open Boat,” is story based on his experience as a survivor
Loneliness is the sadness resulting from being isolated or abandoned. Being lonely is almost always directly connected to relations between people, or the lack there of. Mother Teresa once said “Loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.” In John Steinbecks classic novel, Of Mice And Men, the three characters, Crooks, Curley’s wife and Candy struggle with loneliness in different forms because of characteristics that they can’t control. All three characters deal with their loneliness by searching for companionship with others on the ranch and this works out differently for each of them.
In the story Cannery Row Loneliness is a main theme to the characters lives. One of these themes is Loneliness. 'He was a dark and lonesome looking man' No one loved him. No one cared about him'(Page 6). The severity of his solitude makes this theme one of the most important. The seclusion of this man can penetrate ones innermost thoughts and leave them with a sense of belonging after hearing of this characters anguish. In addition a man who was not entirely alone was still feeling secluded. ?In spite of his friendliness and his friends Doc was a lonely and set- apart man.?(Page 132). An individual could have many people around him but could still not have the one good friend that he needs. Seclusion comes in many different forms that can be d...
I awoke before the first rays of sunlight had passed through the dew-covered trees to the west today. It had rained the evening before, and the smell of wet leaves and grass was still lingering in the air.
Earth is a planet filled with upwards of seven billion people. Most will only meet one hundred thousand, and many will not meet even that many. Each and every one of those people have their own life experiences, and each and every one of those experiences are valuable sources of information. When making decisions, it is incredibly important to consider these experiences. Simply disregarding them all is selfish, idiotic, and deadly.
...farm, mowing the grass, feeding the animals, and harvesting the garden. The only real value of the farm, the close contact with nature, can be had for no cost. Thoreau found more freedom in his small hut by the pond where he was truly free from the trivial life of living in a village. He was free from the commercial rat race and was able to let himself be roused by nature.
In an odd twist, he even challenges the fact that is isolated with the quote “What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary?” By challenging the distance required to call someone “solitary,” Thoreau argues that he is not all on his own but is instead slightly distanced from the rest of the world. He states that physical proximity does not equate to mental proximity. “ No exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another” is how he states it, and so he believed that his books and papers were just as effective as face-to-face communication in spreading his message. Though that idea may be debatable, by refuting the space between his cabin on Walden Pond and the rest of society Thoreau puts himself closer to the audience than they may have previously thought he
Stephen Marche Lets us know that loneliness is “not a state of being alone”, which he describes as external conditions rather than a psychological state. He states that “Solitude can be lovely. Crowded parties can be agony.”
In the chapter The Village from the book Walden, Henry David Thoreau states that society loves to hear and spread gossip all around the town. Thoreau goes on to claim that because the citizens in the town are so focused on getting the next scandal, they have missed out on getting in touch with who they are and nature. He also subtly suggests that people should follow in the same footsteps as himself by removing themselves from society so that they can only focus on themselves and nature. I qualify this claim that gossip distracts society from finding their true selves because not all gossip is distracting or bad but I do agree with Thoreau on the fact that people get engulfed in gossip and become distracted from more important things in life.
Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was an American philosopher, author, poet, abolitionist, and naturalist. He was famous for his essay, “Civil Disobedience”, and his book, Walden. He believed in individual conscience and nonviolent acts of political resistance to protest unfair laws. Moreover, he valued the importance of observing nature, being individual, and living in a simple life by his own values. His writings later influenced the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr. In “Civil Disobedience” and Walden, he advocated individual nonviolent resistance to the unjust state and reflected his simple living in the nature.
Why do so few Americans not see all of the problems in society? Do they simply not care or are they not able to see them? With Thoreau's statement, "To be awake is to be alive", he implies that Americans have their eyes closed to these issues. They do not choose to overlook these issues but they simply pass them by because their eyes are shut. Some people are not able to grasp the concept in Thoreau's statement and find it to be foreign or subversive because it threatens the way the see the world.
In life people are be alone by choice, no matter if it was flat out what the wanted or alone due to some kind of forced circumstance that grew out of a previous choice they made, but when it comes down to it loneliness is never truly desired. In the short stories A Painful Case and Eveline we see examples of each type of loneliness. In A Painful Case Mr. Duffy for the most part of his life chooses to be alone. In Eveline, Eveline seems to be lonely because she’s unable to leave her duties to her family. In both stories the main characters display their desire to have someone near but when they’re finally given the chance it’s inevitably taken away from them, and then they’re driven back into the entrapment of loneliness.
...rs solitude to be of great importance in achieving an individualistic understanding. He writes, “It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude.” Here it can be seen that Emerson also recognizes solitude to be a beneficial thing to people, but he argues that to be able to remain an individual within society is a far greater achievement. To be able to think without the assistance of society while enduring the pressures of society is to be truly great.
Throughout the essay from Walden by Henry David Thoreau he often refers to self reliance and simplicity throughout the essay. He believes that its important for an individual to live independently from