Richard Douglass And Thoreau's Connecting With Nature

The thought of not doing something or living a different way because of the perceived consequences could be a difficult thing to push aside, even more so for a slave. Thoreau surmises that the American work ethic is in many ways a form of self-imposed slavery and more detrimental than the life of a slave. With that in mind, Douglass, a slave who became free, could possibly give some context and disprove such a claim. The life of a slave is substandard of a free white man, which makes their life more controlled and their way of thinking of themselves is forced upon by the masters; thus, their release is prolonged and hindered which leads to a more trying life -- by being trapped and even when trying to escape being held back. The slave owners

Thus, the connection with nature, describes Richard Higgins on Thoreau, was through “[f]ive characteristic [that] were with his eye, his heart, his muse, and his soul” (HIGGINS 35). Thoreau was delighted with nature and trees in particular, for they were his friends whose appearance and demeanor spoke to him. Similarly, Fuller finds this connection, but is more overwhelmed than is Thoreau. Fuller, speaking on Niagara Falls, writes that “(a)fter awhile it so drew me into itself as to inspire and undefined dread, such as I never knew before, such as may be felt when death is about to usher us into a new existence” (Fuller 4). Nature speaking on different grounds and through different, but yet connected senses, and through the conscious and unconsciousness only add to the experience of becoming one with nature. Fuller further observes the connection that nature has with humans. She observes that when she expresses, “The tall trees bent and whispered all around, as if to hail with sheltering love the men who had come to dwell among them” (Fuller 24). As the trees spoke Thoreau and Fuller listened, as their moment became one with nature their soul became

Thoreau is aware of this juxtaposition when he expresses, “ ‘You are never so far in them as they far before you. Their secrets is where you are not and where your feet can never carry you’ ” (HIGGIN 39). By this Thoreau was aware of the limits in which humans could connect to nature and in particular trees, he knew that trees knew far more than what humans could know, and he was fine by it. Similarly, Fuller observes this chasm. Humans are connected to nature, but by trying to understand it, it would be impossible, beyond comprehension. She captures this sublime experience when she writes, “There all power of observing details, all separate consciousness, was quite lost” (Fuller 4). The more one tries to understand nature the more one understands of oneself. Hence, the connection is something more, through the soul, through the mind, and spirit. The connection is like trying to describe what it feels to sleep or even dream to an extraterrestrial who has never experienced either -- both just happen -- both teach the individual of who they