Thoreau's Journey to Find the Simple Life

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Simple is the way of life that transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau advocated as the most fulfilling of all. Although sometimes irrational, Thoreau wanted a life that was more closely connected with nature in comparison with the majority of a rapidly industrializing America. He favored a more agrarian approach rather than a mechanized form of work and production, for that he believed was alienating man from his roots. Walden, one of Thoreau’s most famous commentaries on such a lifestyle, puts his ideology in perspective as he trod the forests of Concord, Massachusetts near Walden Pond. Living in and around a small cabin, Thoreau realizes that when one is with nature and nature alone, he sees life as immeasurable and unlimited in its possibilities. Thus, in order to live in such a manner, one must abandon all of his “extravagant” material possessions and forget all of the preconceived notions of the dynamic American lifestyle.

Throughout the novel, Thoreau emphasizes the principle of living for a purpose. For example, in the chapter “Where I Lived and What I Lived For”, he states, ...

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