Comparing Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer and Thoreau's Various Essays
St. Jean De Crèvecoeur's Letters from an American Farmer and Henry David Thoreau's various essays and journal entries present opposing views of what it means to be an American. To somewhat simplify, both writers agree that there are two kinds of Americans: those who are farmers and those who are not. Crèvecoeur views farmers as the true Americans, and those who are not farmers, such as frontier men, as lawless, idle, inebriated wretches (266). Sixty years later, Thoreau believes the opposite: farmers are doomed and bound to their land, and free men who own nothing posses the only true liberty (9). Both Crèvecoeur and Thoreau judge men and their professions on industry, use of nature, freedom, and lawfulness.
As America grew during these six decades, industrialization and higher education created more compact communities unable to economically provide the land needs of farmers. In Crèvecoeur's America, "some few towns excepted, we are all tillers of the earth"(263). In 1850, Thoreau's Concord was among the many towns allowing people to leave their farms for a more urban setting to house their law practices, shoe stores, or surveying businesses. The separation of farmers from the rest of society leads to intellectualizations of the profession by thinkers like Thoreau. Removed from the simple, hard labor of farming, it is easy for urbanized society to forget the farmer's purpose and importance in Western civilization.
Crèvecoeur states that "industry, which to me who am but a farmer, is the criterion of everything"(264). Indeed, a lack of industry in any vocation eventually leads to failure. Thoreau, however, sees little value in indu...
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...d as Thoreau was from self-supporting agriculture, modern America is light years away. Thoreau's ideal lifestyle is now an impossibility. Many Americans would settle for an unadorned life on a small farm, and a clean, dry home.
Possibly the day will come when [the land] will be partitioned off into so-called pleasure-grounds, in which a few will take a narrow and exclusive pleasure only-when fences shall be multiplied, and man-traps and other engines invented to confine men to the public road, and walking over the surface of God's earth shall be construed to mean trespassing on some gentleman's grounds. ... Let us improve our opportunities, then, before the evil days come. (Thoreau 667)
Works Cited:
Crèvecoeur, J. Hector St. John de. Letters from an American Farmer and Sketches of Eighteenth-Century America. Ed. Albert E. Stone. New York: Penguin, 1981.
In this essay, the author
Compares jean de crèvecoeur's letters from an american farmer and henry david thoreau’s essays and journal entries. both writers agree that there are two kinds of americans: farmers and non-farmers.
Analyzes how industrialization and higher education created compact communities unable to economically provide the land needs of farmers. thoreau's concord was among the many towns allowing people to leave their farms for a more urban setting.
Opines that a lack of industry in any vocation eventually leads to failure. thoreau sees little value in industry.
Narrates how they find old boundmarks, and the slowness and dullness of farmers reconfirmed. they complain that they walk too fast for them and their legs have become stiff from toil.
Analyzes how thoreau's disdain for work leads to criticism of the farmers who pay him. it seems naive of him to freely criticize those who do.
Analyzes how thoreau and emerson represent a return to nature. americans of the time commonly saw nature as an opponent to be conquered.
Explains that almost all man's improvements, such as the building of houses and the cutting down of the forest, deform the landscape and make it more and more tame and cheap.
Explains that early americans needed to fight the wild to survive. crèvecoeur states that the work of a farmer, if done properly, increases the value and productivity of the land.
Analyzes how he beholds fair cities, substantial villages, extensive fields, and immense country filled with decent houses, good roads, orchards, meadows and bridges.
Explains that kneaded land and infrastructure are a blessing to immigrant farmers from europe. they will not have to chop the trees, till the land, or build the bridges themselves.
Argues that thoreau's freedom is the unbounded ability to pick up and go, while crèvecoeur sees the path to freedom in owning land.
Explains that newcomers receive ample rewards for their labors; these accumulated rewards procure them lands, confer on them the title of freemen, and to that title every benefit is affixed.
Opines that for the immigrant farmer, coming from a country which provides nothing but "pinching penury" and "frowns from the rich," the ability to own, work, and benefit from his or her own land is absolute freedom.
Analyzes how crèvecoeur, witnessing thoreau's vision of men living in the wild, stresses that such a lifestyle leads to chaos and lawlessness.
Opines that the man who takes the liberty to live is superior to all the laws, by virtue of his relation to the lawmaker.
Analyzes how thoreau would have anarchy. he does not point out fault with any specific law, so we may assume he merely dislikes the idea of being governed.
Explains that men are placed farther beyond the reach of government, which in some measure leaves them to themselves. the reunion of such people does not afford a pleasing spectacle.
Analyzes how crèvecoeur's description of the origins of these men shows that they are not all on thoreau’s level of refinement.
Analyzes how crèvecoeur's description of the american farmer is bound in experience, observation, and the realities of bringing western civilization to the new world. thoreau makes many good points in his writings, but they are not all grounded in reality.
Analyzes how modern american culture tends to sentimentalize crèvecoeur's quaint farming life. the large plots of agricultural land in and around concord which thoreau disliked are now homes and businesses.
Opines that the day will come when the land will be partitioned into so-called pleasure-grounds.
The expectations to own a house, to wear fancy clothing, and to fit in with the rest of society condemn mankind to a life of constant toil. The end result is a kind of stupor. Millions of men are awake enough only to work. Fewer still are awake enough to think. Only a few, says Thoreau, are fully awake. According to Thoreau, man has sacrificed his greatest asset, his individuality, for the baubles and trinkets civilization offers.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how walden; or, life in the woods is a self-experiment that provides an ideal opportunity to evaluate ’s philosophy.
Analyzes how thoreau sees mankind's self-alienation as the fundamental problem in society.
Analyzes how thoreau argues that man has sacrificed his greatest asset, his individuality, for the baubles and trinkets civilization offers.
Analyzes how thoreau observes that mankind has constructed trains that run on a rigid schedule but in doing so has subjected itself to the same inflexible structure.
Analyzes how slavery leads to unfamiliarity with one's inner self and destruction of one’s special connection with nature. if man was ever divine, he has fallen far.
Analyzes how thoreau sees a need for spiritual re-awakening because of man's spiritual stupor.
Analyzes how thoreau finds enlightenment about his own nature in walden pond and its surroundings.
Opines that thoreau's self-investigation is an integral part of spiritual re-awakening. he imagines the soul as an uncharted continent, far greater than columbus' new world.
Analyzes how thoreau's journey to obtain spiritual rebirth and self-awareness led to a simple life. he rejected many trappings of cultured life and ate simple fare.
Analyzes thoreau's view of non-essential possessions as obstacles to self-knowledge. he owned his little shack outright because he built it with his own hands, while the farmers were servants to their mortgages.
Explains that thoreau discovered wholeness in self-contemplation. he was not afraid to be alone and to listen to his own soul.
Explains thoreau's simple life of introspection allowed him to pursue the ultimate transcendentalist ideal: self-reliance.
Analyzes how thoreau's recognition of the corruption of man is surprisingly biblical. his insistence on simplicity of life and clarity of mind is refreshing.
Opines that thoreau worships the creature rather than the creature for the answer to humanity's problems. introspection and meditation can reverse the irreparable damage of the fall.
Analyzes how thoreau demonstrates key transcendentalist themes through his spiritual experiment and journey.
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.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how henry david thoreau questions the lifestyles of people in walden. he makes his readers wonder if they have chosen the kind of lifestyle that gives them the greatest amount of happiness.
Analyzes how thoreau constructed a house from nothing, even borrowing an axe to fell trees, and started to farm to make money.
Analyzes how thoreau symbolized nature, animals, and walden pond, describing it as mysterious, deep pure body of water. the thawing of the pond is a dramatic scene in the book.
Analyzes thoreau leaving walden for a reason that he doesn't even know. henry has learned that the more you simplify your life, the clearer you can see the universal laws of life.
In Thoreau’s chapter “Economy” he states that the necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. In this passage he asserts that these necessities as something that we have the ability to receive from the land, and afte...
In this essay, the author
Analyzes thoreau's statement that men should work just so they have enough to survive; he doesn't want us to work so we have surplused luxuries.
Analyzes how thoreau's "economy" states that the necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. he advises us to make efforts to live less "luxuriously."
Agrees with thoreau's statement that advances like cell phones and the internet have negative effects on society.
Analyzes how thoreau's quote, "how vigilant we are! determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it," made them think about the modern day society.
Before immediately jumping into the colonial era, Cronon takes us on a detour to the mid 19th century, where the effects of the preceding colonial environmental regime were felt acutely by Henry Thoreau, who pondered on the accounts of New England’s previous ecological richness. His dissatisfaction is apparent, “When I consider that the nobler animals have been exterminated here… I cannot but feel as if I lived in a tamed, and, as if were, emasculated country” (4). Thoreau is almost a pioneer in the sense that he disapproved of ...
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how the study of the colonial history of new england takes a backseat to america's complex and enthralling social and political history.
Analyzes how cronon takes us on a detour to the mid-19th century, where the effects of the preceding colonial environmental regime were felt acutely by henry thoreau who pondered on the accounts of new england's previous ecological richness.
Analyzes cronon's work detailing the chasm between the colonial and native american outlooks on the environment and on each other.
Compares how native americans viewed nature in a way that combined their animistic faith and their unique cultural development, which itself was heavily impacted by nature.
Analyzes how the two different perspectives on nature led to a clash between the colonial population and their native american neighbors.
Explains the drawbacks of intensive colonial agriculture and animal husbandry, including soil erosion, floods, and extreme temperatures.
Analyzes how cronon's book was a landmark piece of literature that coincided with the rise of environmental history in the latter half of the 21st century.
...y, considering citizenship and working for the benefit of society, while Henry Thoreau emphasizes the illusory nature and imperfection of the state and sees individual freedom in unity with nature and rejection of pseudo-needs enslaving people.
In this essay, the author
Opines that benjamin franklin and henry thoreau's literary works can serve as a manifesto of national and personal liberation. they emphasize the independence and freedom of an individual, but in significantly different ways.
Explains that benjamin franklin was a scholar, lexicographer, and ideologist of the national liberation movement. he condemned slavery and defended the rights of american national minorities.
Analyzes benjamin franklin's political views on the natural and inalienable rights of an individual, stating that every individual is limited in his or her actions. franklin was not a fanatic puritan and denied the common representation of providence.
Analyzes how benjamin franklin defends the naturalness of human liberty by comparing it with the behavior of a rigid body falling to the ground.
Explains that people are free to express their will and desires, and they have a right to choose one thing and reject another.
Opines that franklin does not argue that human freedom is boundless, since any human lives in society. franklin doesn't argue urban civilization may restrict an individual's freedom significantly.
Explains franklin's view that each person should strive for self-improvement, which implies learning how to subdue our passions, weaknesses, and fears to become more successful.
Explains that benjamin franklin, being a man of reason, emphasizes the significance of independence and freedom of an individual. he advocated for the observance of natural human rights.
Analyzes how thoreau's philosophy is permeated with love for freedom and humanism — capitalist industrial civilization is built on the bones of u.s. workers.
Explains that the questions "how to maintain (or gain) personal freedom under the conditions of aggression of urban civilization?" and "what is freedom?" are central for the philosophy of henry thoreau.
Analyzes how thoreau explains the original cosmological conception of nature and human in his treatise "walden, or life in the woods." only closeness to nature, embodies a transcendent ideal, leads to moral improvement.
Opines that thoreau, in contrast to franklin, does not consider society the only environment for people. spiritual harmony and self-improvement are not linked with education or establishing rigid frameworks.
Analyzes thoreau's emphasis on personal freedom through regulating internal motivators. economic conditions and unfairness imprison people, so there is no sense to speak about personal independence.
Analyzes how thoreau's "walden" mentions that people enslave themselves with external forces and it is up to people to get rid of them. people view themselves through the lens of their own self-perception and the position occupied in society.
Explains that if material or natural needs can be satisfied only by various material objects, the so-called material requirements are mostly generated and satisfied in the human mind.
Explains that the problem of lack of freedom may lie in the fact that people solve unimportant problems, while important ones are ignored. thoreau emphasizes that this system cannot be built and cannot function without continuous generation of new needs.
Explains that being liberated from pseudo-material needs, people reject the most common way of life, the purpose of which is to meet these needs.
Opines that thoreau's "civil disobedience" states that no citizen should meekly tolerate arbitrary power. the laws that trample human rights and feelings must be violated and ignored, otherwise people are doomed to exist as uncomplaining sheep.
Analyzes how both benjamin franklin and henry david thoreau respected and emphasized an individual’s independence and freedom.
Summarizes franklin's autobiography and other writings on politics, economics, and virtue.
Both novels, Walden by Henry David Thoreau and Lord of the Flies by William Golding, share a common theme of isolation. In Walden, Thoreau shares his story of the time he spends experimenting with philosophy and social criticism by voluntarily isolating himself to a simple, debt free life in the woods near Walden Pond. Lord of the Flies addresses the moral differences between law and chaos with a fictional story about a group of school-age children who crash land on a deserted island during a war. Unlike Walden, the children in Lord of the Flies do not have a choice in the matter of their isolation and are also in a group with conflicting opinions.
In this essay, the author
Compares walden by thoreau and lord of the flies by golding. both novels share a common theme of isolation.
Analyzes how thoreau decides to spend two years isolated and living off the land. he's committed to being debt free but borrows items from different people in town.
Analyzes golding's lord of the flies, where the protagonist, ralph, is faced with the difficulty of establishing law and order as he tries to create a civil lifestyle on the island until they’re rescued.
Compares the battle in lord of the flies and walden due to the criticism shown from both sides.
Analyzes how lord of the flies represents a strong message about the battle between good and bad and how the monsters we fear are within ourselves.
Two prominent ideas are imbedded in Thoreau's work, the concept of living deliberately, and how he wished to escape the route of conformity; these two ideas mentioned in the essay can be related to the period before Chris Mccandless commenced his journey, showing the conformist life he lived before his deliberate one. In order to better understand this unique period in Mccandless’ life one must be able to separate where his motivations and ideas came from, and how he eventually arranged to defect from the conformist lifestyle. Chris was born in the late 1960’s and throughout his childhood both him and his sister were subjected to a household of abuse and violence. His father lived a double life and had six other children before moving Chris and his mother to Virginia, it’s there where he
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how thoreau's idea of living deliberately and how he wished to escape the route of conformity can be related to the period before chris mccandless commenced his journey.
Analyzes how chris mccandless built his disgusted view of the conformist, similar to the opinion that thoreau developed.
Analyzes how chris mccandless recognized his parents as the paragon of american conformity and reconstructed his conformist life into a deliberate one.
Wendell Berry writes in his book, “What are people for?” a thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. He feels that technology is seen and used as the easy way to produce food faster and more efficiently. With this modern way of farming comes the idea that we need to work smarter not harder which is not always true. The goal is comfort and leisure and Berry feels that this is the reason for the down fall of the agricultural culture. He believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money. This was by no means a perfect society. The people had often been violent wand wasteful in the use of land of each other. Its present ills have already taken root in it. Even with these faults, this society appreciated the hard work of farming compared to the easy way of living today.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes berry's thesis that modern culture is destroying the agricultural culture. he believes that hard work and pride in workmanship is more important than material goods and money.
Analyzes berry's argument that land is falling into the hands of speculators and professional people from the cities, who in spite of all the scientific agricultural miracles still have more money than farmers.
Analyzes berry's argument that modernization of agricultural techniques and the disintegration of the culture has involved the forcible displacement of millions.
Analyzes berry's point about food as a cultural product that cannot be produced by technology alone. hard work reinforces the cultural times among farmers and their families.
Argues that the movement from the farm to the city involves a radical simplification of mind and character.
Analyzes berry's thesis that modernization has a hand in the destruction of the farming culture. he despises the fact that some small farmers cannot compete with the bigger farms because they lack money, resources and manpower.
The Orcs of Middle Earth trampled through the forest leaving a visible path of broken branches. In another part of Middle Earth, Ents spent their time slowly and thoughtfully making decisions. The land culture of the Ents in The Lord of the Rings differs greatly from the Orcs, thus, providing readers a view of Tolkien’s perspectives of agrarianism and current culture. An Orc’s nature is just to follow the orders of their leader and that is all. It is not as much that Orcs don’t like the nature, but that they are unaware of it and it’s importance. Ent’s are known to do everything slowly, from decision making, to talking. These relationships to land correlate to modern views of the land. Wendell Berry is a writer and farmer, who is a leader
In this essay, the author
Compares the land culture of the ents in the lord of the rings to tolkien's perspectives of agrarianism and current culture.
Analyzes how tolkien uses different species to represent different types of agrarianism. davis writes that she believes the hebrew scriptures' mindset is agrararian.
Analyzes how tolkien uses hobbits and elves as examples of agrarianism.
Explains that will allen started an urban farm in the city to bring fresh food to people living in food deserts. he also employed youth, providing them with jobs in a safe environment.
Explains that ents were caretakers of the land and worked to preserve nature in its natural state.
Analyzes how merry and pippin had never seen an ent before, but treebeard and the hobbits traveled together for a while, giving them plenty of time to discuss the history of ents.
Explains that the orcs were the servants of the dark lord and sauron. they disliked everyone and everything, and didn't have a relationship to the land.
Analyzes how the orcs hurriedly made their way through the forest with the two hobbits they had captured.
Quotes wendell berry as one of the most influential people in the modern-day agrarianism society. he explains that agrarianism is about the land, plants, and the rest of nature.
Opines that will allan's farming is a practicable example of the direction more farmers should be heading. it would be hard for humans to change their customs to the feraculture of ents.
Explains that tolkien's writing includes different types of agrarian societies, from ents, who believe the wilderness should be left unchanged, to orcs who don't care about the land.
Rossi, William. “Thoreau’s Transcendental Ecocentrism.” Thoreau’s Sense of Place. Ed. Schneider, Richard J. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000. 28-43.
In this essay, the author
Analyzes how thoreau's approach to nature changed throughout his life, from emersonian transcendentalism to scientific data collection. his individualistic and spiritual approach differentiates him from modern day ecologists.
Explains that the thoreau family was famous throughout concord as lovers of nature, and cynthia, henry's mother, encouraged all of the children to observe and appreciate nature. john and sophia kept ornithological notebooks for the concord region in 1836.
Analyzes how thoreau met ralph waldo emerson, a dynamic speaker and motivational force, and his essay nature expresses transcendentalism.
Analyzes how thoreau observed nature in his early years. he felt that conventional ways of looking at or defining nature must be stripped away in order to see the great truth behind it.
Explains thoreau's journals are so numerous they are practically inaccessible to the average student.
Explains that the transcendentalists, especially emerson, focused on nature as a symbol for truth. thoreau's individualist approach to nature drew him to seek spiritual union with nature.
Opines that thoreau felt that a scientific approach to nature is not adequate or complete. true understanding requires more than science. the reality of the world is discovered through loving nature.
Analyzes thoreau's personal reflections and detailed descriptions of the things he saw and heard. he collected data, but not for a scientific purpose.
Analyzes how thoreau's trip to maine in 1846 shook his understanding of nature. he saw that nature existed not just for man in the transcendentalist sense, but as an entity in itself.
Analyzes how thoreau became increasingly opposed to emerson and his approach to nature. it became impossible for him to see the facts of nature as mere symbols designed for man.
Explains that thoreau's documentation became more and more formally scientific. he was exposed to different systems of codification and a more scientific, material approach to nature.
Explains that thoreau compiled a massive herbarium containing more than 900 specimens. he strove to know each species of plant in concord, including flowering times and understanding the different stages of growth.
Analyzes how thoreau learned more about nature through his scientific approach, but felt increasingly alienated from it. he lacked the sense of unity with nature that he enjoyed in his youth.
Argues that thoreau's scientific method of understanding nature has been criticized as a marked break from transcendentalist thought to materialist scientific thought.
Opines that thoreau does not fully embody the modern terms ecologist, conservationist, naturalist or scientist. his methods are too individualistic and philosophical to be truly scientific.
Describes the works of henry thoreau, including his journal, 'thoreau as a botanist', and robert kuhn's a wider view of the universe.