Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

A few years ago, during a road trip with my family throughout the Northeast, we visited a place called Walden Pond. We hiked on a trail in the beautiful woods of Concord, Massachusetts. A large, brown sign marked the site of Henry David Thoreau’s cabin. It was inscribed with a line from the book Walden, which Thoreau wrote while living there: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” During a different road trip with my family, we stopped for a spontaneous hike in the woods. This time, we walked the Appalachian Trail. The trail extends from Georgia to Maine. This is the

To find a life of simplicity, Thoreau went to live in a small, secluded cabin in the woods. “Give me the poverty that enjoys true wealth.” he wrote. To articulate his point of choosing functional clothing and avoiding absurd, fleeting fashion styles, Thoreau used imagery, “The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveler’s cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same.” While living alone in the woods, Thoreau sought wisdom by reading philosophical books, poetry, and other great literature. He wished every man would be like a philosopher and use his life, not for trivial work, but to seek understanding and intelligence. Thoreau employs the use of epistrophe to make his argument, “While England endeavors to cure potato-rot, will not any endeavor to cure brain-rot, which prevails so much more widely and fatally.” I agree with Thoreau that it is good to avoid over-consumption of material things and to seek to learn and grow your mind because material things do not last and wisdom is valuable; however, Thoreau seems to take it to an extreme that is not necessary. For example, he refuses to buy yeast for his bread because he finds it “not to be an essential ingredient.” Thoreau explored life in the woods; more than one hundred fifty years later, Bryson went on a hike in the