Henry David Thoreau's The Baker Farm

The Baker Farm was an interesting harmonious chapter of smooth like chocolate of an imagery along with bipolar emotions throughout. The rhetorical strategies Henry David Thoreau uses to achieve his purpose in Baker Farm, which was to convince John Field to live a piece-of-cake life, by using similes, personification, pathos, ethos, and logos throughout this chapter.

Thoreau uses similes such as “the red alderberry glows like eyes of imp” to tote on to the imagery of his little journey when he “set out one afternoon to go a-fishing to Fair Haven, through the woods” which paints a picture in the mind of the audience. Additionally, Thoreau's usage of similes also extends to the use of humor. For example, he presents the audience giggles and

For example, he uses “Druids would have forsaken their oaks to worship in them” which personifies the oaks worshipping the druids which plays a role along the stage of imagery. Furthermore, Thoreau also personifies the chicken at Field’s home (“The chickens, which had also taken shelter here from the rain, stalked about the room like members of the family, too humanized.”) saying that they were like Field’s family. However, he used the chickens that personification of the chickens as a shield and sword to express that the family were like the chickens rather than the other way around to avoid sounding as rude if he has said the family acted like chickens. The pathos was heavily centered on his accidental visit to John Field's family from the falling rain when he and Field’s discussed about what they work for and what America was. For instance, Thoreau stated, “But the only true America is that country...For I purposely talked to him as if he were a philosopher, or desired to be one,” to express his philosophical tone and his feelings about John. Furthermore, at the end of the chapter, Thoreau reveals that he pities John (“Poor John Field!”) which invokes a sense of pity and ruth too on the