Thoreau is an example of self-reliance as defined by Emerson, and shows this by his life style. He lives for two years in the woods of Massachusetts reflecting of the self and how to improve it. For his work, he is a more literal and practical example of his philosophies then Emerson was with his high sighted ideals. Throughout his collection of essays, Thoreau uses animals and nature as symbols to represent the philosophical development of the self and the mind, with the focus on reaching a simple and productive state.
             Thoreau uses the lifecycle of an insect to comment on the individual's potential to mature philosophically. The larva state is characterizes as a state of greed and "gross feeding", which is relatable to the state that the immature human. Thoreau defines "gross feeder" as "a man in the larva state" to complete his metaphor as well as build an indelible image of the immature and unproductive man being equivalent to the immature insect. An example of the human gross feeder is the farmer that Thoreau describes in "Economy." He demonstrates his ignorance and primitive thinking by saying, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make my with." Thoreau displays the irony of the situation and proving the farmer wrong by setting the conversation as he and the farmer were walking behind an ox, which is a herbivore and strong enough to pull the "lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle." (51) "I believe that every man who has ever been earnest to preserve his higher or poetic faculties in the best condition has been particularly inclined to abstain from animal food (meat)." (262) The farmers insistence on eating meat, clearly shows his lack of development and narrow-mindedness. Thoreau uses the development of a larva into a butterfly to parallel the development of the human mind form an immature state of &quo...