The Importance of Relying on Oneself in Novels

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Henry David Thoreau and Stephen Crane wrote about the importance of relying on oneself in their novels, Walden and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets respectively, while disagreeing on the significance of philanthropy and material possessions. Thoreau writes about his expedition to Walden Pond to find the true core values of life and connect with nature in his novel, Walden. He expresses romantic and philosophical views on life in Walden, emphasizing different themes such as simplicity, obscurity, and self-sufficiency. Maggie: A Girl of the Streets features a young immigrant woman of the grimy New York tenements, who falls into a hopeless romance, forcing her into the neglected life of a prostitute. Thoreau accentuates the benefits of self-reliance throughout his stay at Walden Pond. Thoreau writes, “I lived alone, in the woods, a mile from any neighbor, in a house which I have built myself, on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, and earned my living by the labor of my hands only” (7). He puts an emphasis on the personal pronouns to exaggerate how he supported himself. Thoreau uses his stay at Walden Pond as a justification that relying on oneself is most efficient, rather than depending on others. His experience at Walden Pond displays the practicality of self-reliance. Thoreau writes, “For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that, by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living” (58), to prove the productivity of relying on oneself. Stephen Crane accentuates the importance of self-reliance through Maggie’s incapability to support her. Maggie is born into a family with social and economic constraints. She is brought up in a low-l... ... middle of paper ... ...ee greatly on the meaning of materialistic objects. Thoreau refers to materialistic objects as “gewgaws”, and believes that materialistic possessions are degrading. He believes that anything that exceeds what is necessary complicates life. Stephen Crane considers materialistic possessions carries value in one’s life. According to Crane, the quantity and quality of material possessions correspond with someone’s worth in society. Walden and Maggie: A Girl of the Streets emphasizes the importance of self-reliance, yet disagreeing on the value of poverty and the significance of materialistic possessions. Works Cited Crane, Stephen. Maggie a Girl of the Streets (A Story of New York). Ed. Kevin J. Hayes. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin's, 1999. Print. Thoreau, Henry David. "Economy." Walden and Civil Disobediance. New York: Barnes and Noble, 2003. 7-65. Print.

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