Thoreau wonders if the truly valuable elements of life are being taken advantage of if a person isn't living simply. If a person is so caught up in working or never having enough then life, its wonders, and satisfaction are difficult to obtain.
As he states in the beginning (pg4), "most men even in this comparatively free country, though mere ignorance and mistake, are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that is finer fruits cannot be plucked by them." This to me means that people care more about the fine things in life and easier work instead of nature's gifts and hard work. Thoreau draws a parallel between others preoccupation wit! h money and his own enjoyment of non-monetary wealth. Thoreau's statement " A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone" means that rich refers to having the opportunity for spiritual and intellectual gains and afford refers to the self-actualization rather than to cash in the bank. Those are just some of the materialistic terms that Thoreau uses to refer to non-materialist values, making fun of the capitalist in the process. Thoreau uses the opportunity of the first chapter to discuss the issue of how we spend our time and energies. It is obvious that his townspeople are not as economical as they spend many hours working very hard to accomplish very little, showing a false sense of economy. Thoreau believed that all attempts to redeem mankind from its problems were useless unless such attempts began with the person. The individual person had to stop thinking more about the lesson nature had to offer.
Thoreau thought that by living simply with few needs or material possessions man would have more time to enjoy life to its fullest natural potential. In the other chapters of the book Thoreau goes on to tell about his experiences with nature while living on Walden Pond. The bean field which he grew, and put so much work into. He did not know himself what the meaning was of planting the garden only that he felt self-respect from doing so. They "attached him to the earth." And he got strength from it. He told of the villagers and how he spent his days with them chatting till everyone was gone or just listening to the gossip whether it came from people or the newspapers, in which he thought was refreshing in its own way.
When he had "worn out all his village friends", he would go for walks in unfamiliar woods and new
Related Documents: Essay Henry David Thoreau and Thoreau
positives of society. Henry David Thoreau wrote Walden in the first person. He explains that he wrote the majority of the “following pages” when he lived isolated from the city life. For Thoreau, living outside of the human community is the complement to living immersed in nature. Thoreau believed that in order to truly experience the openness of nature, an individual must withdraw from human company and materialistic needs. Human society moves at a faster pace than the one Thoreau would prefer and also…
In " Life without Principle" Thoreau argues that work should be something we love in order to lead a life worth living, not simply a make a living. The aim of labor should be, not to get his living, to get "a good job," but to perform well a certain work; and, even in an easy sense, it would be making economy for a town to pay its laborers so well that they would not feel that they were working for low ends, as a livelihood, but for scientific, or even moral ends. Do not hire a man who does your…
Misused Government The essay, Civil Disobedience, was written by Henry David Thoreau during The Mexican War in the 1840’s, a war caused by a dispute over the boundary between Texas and Mexico, as well as by Mexico’s refusal to discuss selling California and New Mexico to the U.S. Thoreau was against the Mexican War, he felt it was unnecessary violence, so he refused to pay taxes and he had to spend the night in jail. While in jail Thoreau wrote that the federal government was flawed because it was likely…
“progress” can differ drastically depending on ones outlook on things like necessities, ones goals, and ones perception of what life should entail. In this case comparing Henry David Thoreau and Harriet Noble’s views on these values, they could not differ more. After reading the background and the given situations between Thoreau and Noble with her family, it provided me with mixed emotions on what the term progress should have meant to the American people during this time. I concluded that because…
achieve the highest of my ability because they did not have the same privileges that my siblings and I have. My father is a hard-working man who gave up his education for his children. America has shown me the true meaning of this quote by Henry David Thoreau.” What lies behind us and what lies ahead of us are tiny matter to what lies within us”. As I think about this quote my father comes to mind . Ever since I was a little girl my father has held my hand through all the chaos and devastation we’ve…
“The Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. In Hawthorne’s work, a minister chooses to wear a veil to cover his face, thus imposing a barrier to the world upon himself, while encouraging society to force restrictions on him. Thoreau describes his time spent in solitary confinement in the woods, and that allows him to reflect on society and the individual. Through purposeful alienation of themselves from society, the minister and Thoreau exemplify chains placed on humanity…
the individual, and emotion over reason. Despite Jane’s hardships throughout the story, she doesn’t forget her aspirations and what she truly believes in. These same principles are reflected in both Ralph Waldo Emerson’s, “Self-Reliance”, and in Henry David Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”. As a result, the story portrays her journey, fighting against societal norms and creating who she is. Their Eyes Were Watching God reflects the transcendentalist elements of strong individuality, emotion over reason…
The essays by Martin Luther King Jr., “Letters From Birmingham Jail” and Henry David Thoreau, “Civil Disobedience” show how one can be a civil person and protest against unfair, unjust laws forced upon them. Both authors are very persuasive in their letter writings. Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. write about the injustice of government laws, of right and wrong, and one’s moral and upstanding conscience of a human being. Martin Luther King Jr. is a religious, peaceful man who uses…
Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two writers during the transcendentalism era. Their beliefs, such as simplicity, self-reliance, and nature, are still relevant in our society today. Henry David Thoreau was a firm believer that people spend too much time buying luxuries to really enjoy/appreciate anything at all. In the 1800's as well as now, prices continue to rise and people are being forced to work more and more just to make ends meet. This wouldn't be a problem if more people…
eminent the similarities of such a prominent figure like Nelson Mandela to the linguist activist, Henry David Thoreau. Both men were more than willing to pursue action such as, suffering in jail, for the betterment of the people. Powerful actions such as these are the definition of the term civil disobedience, or refusal to obey government demands in a non-violent manner. Additionally, Henry David Thoreau, a social philosopher and also writer, advocated upon the pretense of transcendentalism. The…