In today’s society there exists an imaginary boundary between civilization and nature. Most modern people grow complacent from having technology in their arm’s reach that they fail to enjoy the true beauty that surrounds them on a daily basis. Author Henry D. Thoreau grows tired of the complexities of society and sojourn to nature where he realizes that the simple life is key. Through Thoreau’s escapism from society’s snares of materialism and religion, he discovers nature holds absolute truths and one of those truths being: life is best lived through simplicity.
Thoreau lives in a world where a person focused on what he has, instead of, who he is. Thoreau believes people were so blinded by their possessions and accolades when he writes, “Most men… are so occupied the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them” (4). Thoreau disapproves with peoples’ notion of complacency through menial labor; instead, Thoreau believes people should find comfort through nature. One prominent example is when Thoreau meets John Field and his family, he quickly realizes that John is concentrated on obtaining the elusive American dream and being a poor Irish immigrant that he is unable to achieve enlightenment like Thoreau. Thoreau writes that “With his horizon all his own, yet he a poor man, born to be poor, with his inherited Irish poverty or poor life” (Walden 196). To Thoreau, John Field represents the bottom of society as being an Irish immigrant that gets discriminated by having such a meager job as “bogging” for a neighbor. Also, Thoreau is convinced that the poor Irish farmer and his family are nothing but chained to the oppression of society and there is no escaping for them. In addi...
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...Treanor). "Every man is tasked to make his life, even in its details, worthy of the contemplation of his most elevated and critical hour" (Walden 90). Thoreau challenges everyone to curtail their desires of consumerism and to live the life of minimalism.
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Thoreau, Henry D. Walden. Boston: Beacon Press, 2004. Print.
Treanor, Brian. "The Virtue Of Simplicity: Reading Thoreau With Aristotle.”
Concord Saunterer 15.(2007): 65-90. Literary Reference Center. Web. 13 Feb. 2014.
In this passage from the famous text Walden, the author Henry David Thoreau, a naturalist and transcendentalist, gives an account of his experience while living in isolation at Walden pond for two years of his life. While in isolation, he sought to enjoy life away from the hustle and bustle of society and live more simplistically without concern of the small things in life.
"How important is a constant intercourse with nature and the contemplation of natural phenomenon to the preservation of moral & intellectual health. The discipline of the schools or of business—can never impart such serenity to the mind. " ~ Henry David Thoreau, May, 1851
Have you ever woke up in the morning and asked yourself, “Why am I living this life?” Throughout the book of Walden, Henry David Thoreau questions the lifestyles that people choose; he makes his readers wonder if they have chosen the kind of lifestyle that give them the greatest amount of happiness. Thoreau stated, “Most men, even in this comparatively free country, through mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them().” This quote is important because most of society these days are so caught up in work and trying to make ends meet that they lose the values in life. Thoreau was forced to change his life when he found himself unhappy after a purchase for a farm fell through. On Thoreau’s journey he moves to Walden and builds a house and life from nothing but hard work, symbolizes many different objects.
Henry Thoreau uses specific rhetorical strategies in Walden to emanate his attitude towards life. With the use of many strategies Thoreau shows that life should be centered around Nature. People live their lives not ever taking a second glance of what Nature does and has done for humanity and Thoreau is trying to prove his point. Humanity owes Nature everything for without it humans would be nothing.
Fender, Stephen. Introduction. Walden. By Henry David Thoreau. New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 1997. Print.
Throughout Thoreau's “Walden”, he lays out many suggestions that some may take as significant or just senseless. Thoreau brings forth many concepts such as necessity, news, and labor which would benefit modern society. Yet, his views on isolation and moderation are unattainable in a technology-driven society. Even though the ideas that could benefit society may not be totally agreeable, the main reasoning for them are valid. Those ideas of isolation and moderation are clearly not possible in a world where people crave to be social and live to obtain any and everything they want.
In chapter two of Henry David Thoreau's Walden, entitled "Where I Lived, and What I Lived for", there are two themes that run throughout the narrative. The key theme that emerges continually is that of simplicity with the additional theme being that of freedom. Thoreau finds himself surrounded by a world that has no true freedom or simplified ways, with people committed to the world that surrounds them rather than being committed to their own true self within nature.
Thoreau, Henry D. Walden, or Life in the Woods. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012. N. pag. Print.
9). Although Thoreau’s goal was a life of simplicity, he was not aiming for a life free from pleasures. He merely wished “not … to live what was not life” (Thoreau 135). This meant spending time enjoying nature and doing things for himself, but not everything. Solnit asserts that one can simultaneously have a “passion for justice” while finding “pleasure in small things” (“The Thoreau Problem par. 9). Just as Thoreau can seclude himself in his cabin to contemplate the true meaning of life, so too can he wander into town to get a home cooked meal and clean laundry. His return to town has no effect on the findings he gathers about the importance of simplicity, independence, and nature. By drawing this parallel and falsifying the many misconceptions held against Thoreau, Solnit allows the ideas of Thoreau and the value of such ideas to be accessible to readers in this
Thoreau conveys many points in his writing and a large recurring one is the state of society. As stated before, he believed that people are too focused on physical gain and modernization which leads them into desperation. He adds on to this belief later in the book asking that above all else whether it be money or fame he be given honesty (Thoreau 246). To Thoreau, the truth is more important than anything measurable in status. Thoreau believes that a minimalist lifestyle is a good lifestyle, similar to Mccandless. He speaks of how it is good that he can put all of his belonging in one pile in his yard because it removes the clutter from his life (Thoreau 85). He also says that his best quality in life is to want very little, because it keeps himself true to himself and keeps him from distraction. Thoreau also believes that every man should be one in himself not oppressed by the government. He says that everyone should be able to be themselves whether is is in accord with the government or not (Thoreau 240). He is essentially saying that the government should not be a part of people's life decisions only to maintain the
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
When Thoreau tells us to "cultivate poverty" (25), he is telling us to enjoy what we have, even if it may not be much. When you are unconcerned with material things like clothes, you open yourself to new ways of experiencing life, past the physical elements. When he talks about new friends, I think he is expressing how as humans we have the tendency to act differently to impress new people. This concern for the opinion of others needs to be shed to get to the most important parts of life. Henry David Thoreau stressed the importance of living simply and using your human abilities to get the sustenance, whether spiritual or physical, that you need to survive.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
According to the statement, “Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate,” Thoreau believes that the basis for the success of any person is his/her own individual opinion of himself/herself. Thoreau is the perfect example of his own opinion, based on his time spent living a simple life at Walden Pond. The public had varied opinions of Thoreau’s lifestyle, and Thoreau even addresses some critics in his essay. However, Thoreau himself was very content with his lifestyle, and he believed that his simple lifestyle was far superior compared to the seemingly luxurious lifestyle of men, who actually are in debt and bound to a la...
When thinking about the transcendental period and/or about individuals reaching out and submerging themselves in nature, Henry David Thoreau and his book, Walden, are the first things that come to mind. Unknown to many, there are plenty of people who have braved the environment and called it their home during the past twenty years, for example: Chris McCandless and Richard Proenneke. Before diving into who the “modern Thoreaus” are, one must venture back and explore the footprint created by Henry Thoreau.