Analysis Of Henry David Thoreau's Walden

The novel Walden by Henry David Thoreau is a complex piece of literature. The entirety of the book evaluates how we live life with too much luxury, and how we are not truly living. Thoreau uses his experience of only living with the bare necessities which he gets only by hand to explain how the way we live is unnecessary. He makes many points in his novel, most of which vocalize how we live in a world in which we live our lives based on what society tells us to do. Thoreau believes that we do not live for ourselves but more for the mere aspect of surviving. Although his experiences may have been possible in the mid 1800’s, they would no longer be possible now. Society has developed immensely in the 161 years since this book was published.
He moved into the woods as an attempt to reconnect with nature without all the distractions of civilization. Thoreau explains how nature in itself is a home to mankind. In the chapter “Solitude” he states, “In the midst of a gentle rain while these thoughts prevailed, I was suddenly sensible of such sweet and beneficent society in nature, in the very pattering of drops, and in every sound and sight around my house, an infinite and unaccountable friendliness all at once like an atmosphere sustaining me…” As Thoreau talks about how nature is a home to him, he also talks about how he connects with nature. In “Solitude” he also states that, “The indescribable innocence and beneficence of nature- of sun and wind and rain, of summer and winter- such health, such cheer, they afford forever! and such sympathy have they ever with our race, that all nature would be affected and the sun’s brightness fade, and the winds would sigh humanely, and the clouds rain tears, and the woods shed their leaves and put on mourning in midsummer, if any man should ever for a just cause grieve. Shall I not have intelligence with the earth? Am I not partly the leaves and vegetables myself?” Thoreau feels as if he has become one with nature. Thoreau doesn’t believe anything not even civilization should take away someone 's connection to nature. Thoreau’s transcendentalist like ideas may have been acceptable during his time, but throughout the years humans have adapted to the rapidly changing society. We rely on technology and what it has brought us. Without it we wouldn’t have adapted as a civilization. Therefore, Thoreau 's most significant points throughout his novel is irrelevant in modern day