Henry David Thoreau was an American born writer, born in the early 1800's. He led a simple life as a scholar, a brother, and a friend. Thoreau wanted only to live life and enjoy it. He didn't want to worry himself with money, or the burden it causes. Thoreau's life, though short lived and long ago, was devoted to change, simplicity, and defiance.
             Thoreau's ideas and beliefs were not common in his day. In fact, some of his work was even frowned upon. His essay "Civil Disobedience" is one example. "Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison." (Thoreau, essays 12). Thoreau means that while men are being unjustly imprisoned, the men that imprisoned them, believing they are just, are the ones that are wrong. Another example of Thoreau's non-conformity is prevalent in his essays on slavery, and his defensive arguments for John Brown, an abolitionist who was on trial. During Brown's trial, Thoreau makes a speech to the court, and in it says "We can at least express our sympathy with, and admiration of, him and his companions, and that is what I now propose to do. ... Slavery he deemed to be wholly opposed to, and he was its determined foe" (Thoreau essays 43). Thoreau was defending a man who was on trial because of his hate for slavery. In his time, when slavery was widely accepted, it was a very brave thing for him to do. Thoreau wanted only to make change in the world, and contest the beliefs of society.
             Thoreau was bent on the simple life, and relaying this love to his followers. "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. . . " (Thoreau walden) Thoreau is trying to convince people that there is no sense in letting life overwhelm you, only concern yourself with what you must. In an exploration of Thoreau's life, Robert Richardson wrote...