Walden
In Henry David Thoreau's "Walden" it is quite evident that Thoreau seeks to control the world in which he lives. The book is about Thoreau taking control of his life by moving away from society so that he can live by himself. Thoreau's going back to the primitive if you will. Thoreau feels that society has strayed too far from the "pursuit of excellence and purity". He states that man has become too ambitious and too greedy. Man desires to own and gain too many things. People are not living simply anymore. To Thoreau the cost of something is not really its actual cost in dollars and cents. To him the cost of something is the amount of life one person must exchange for it. He claims a man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can let alone. Rather than accumulating things (possessions) Thoreau wanted to enjoy the richness of time. His trek to Walden Pond us his attempt to break away from the lives of desperation that he saw most people lead. Thoreau borrows an axe and builds a cabin for himself on the shore of Walden Pond in the woods near Boston, Massachusetts. He plants a garden of beans, corn, potatoes, turnips, and other dry vegetables and lives off what he can grow and what he can capture. He has iso
His attempt to live on his own was obviously successful. Thoreau thinks that man would have more time for things with value if he paid less attention to gaining all the comforts of life. Thoreau considers unnecessary luxuries as "positive hindrances for man's spiritual development. He took with him a small wardrobe of clothes. He thinks people are enslaved to the things that they have become used to having. If man did not have luxuries to distract him then man could concentrate by making his life better by bettering his mind with learning and thinking. He also states that most people do not hold onto their jobs because they like their jobs and enjoy doing them. Thoreau had always tried to avoid being too comfortable and too concerned with what he could buy or own. Now put the foundations under them. He offers that man should only focus on the very basic needs such as food, clothing, shelter, and fuel. Everyone works in various jobs to earn themselves a living.
Common topics in this essay:
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