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Henry David Thoreau's Walden, Or, Life In The Woods

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The book Walden; or, Life in the Woods was about the life of Henry David Thoreau and how he spent 2 years and 2 months living in the woods to get a view of society from another perspective. Thoreau starts the story talking about how he lives in the woods alone and he has for 2 years and 2 months. The story is about how he has the "pond project" and how he built his own cabin, got his own food and supported himself alone off of land that wasn't his, but he had permission to be on. Thoreau believed that living in the Urban life is a good way to forget who you truly are. So he proved this by living alone for this time. He spent his days studying plants and animals, along with farming and other things. Thoreau also met quite a lot of people to …show more content…

He was far enough to be alone, but close enough to be able to hear a trains and church bells in the distance. In the very beginning he talked about how he wrote most of this book while living miles from the closest neighbor, in the woods alone. Thoreau did get visitors while living in the woods. His visitors would come to his cabin in the middle of the woods and they told Thoreau stories about the history of the area. Thoreau told of all the visitors from the woodchopper to the ones who over stayed their welcome. He enjoyed the presence of them all. In this story Thoreau was very independent. He lived in the woods alone and he built his own cabin along with gathered and farmed his own food. He supported himself by trading the beans he grew himself for what he needed and he bought very little and was extremely independent. Along with this Thoreau didn’t depend on the increasing "market revolution" because of how independent he was. The "market revolution" was the expansion of marketplaces because of roads and canals. With this happening, it had a big effect on society, but Thoreau didn’t use the markets because of how independent he was. He didn’t buy anything and if he did it was very

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For one, according to Johnson, Thoreau was an abolitionist and refused to pay taxes to support what he considered to be an immoral war. Thoreau’s wilderness venture was not to cut off contact with humanity, but involved society by knowledgably standing up against it. But Johnson does report, that the closest thing to Thoreau’s Walden is Krakauer’s Into the Wild. Thoreau had conducted an experiment involving self-sufficiency in a one-room cabin in Massachusetts, while McCandless was experimenting with his life. Thoreau’s “wilderness” was anything but, with ample necessities and close region to civilization.

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During the Transcendentalist movement, Henry David Thoreau was a leading transcendentalist whose work focused mainly on nature and adventure. Walden, or Life in the Woods is an exceptional example of a story based on adventure. In Thoreau’s account of his life at Walden pond, he first states, “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.” Through this quote Thoreau explains that he was tired of the complexity of normal life and desired to go on an adventure to live simply. Additionally, Thoreau states, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…,” which again reveals his motivation for new life by adventure and simplicity.

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In the chapter titled Where I Lived, and What I Lived For from Henry David Thoreau’s novel Walden, the author utilizes rhetorical strategies such as imagery and tone to convey how the distractions that accompany a progressing civilization corrupts society. Since he is a transcendentalist, his argument encapsulates the same principles of becoming free from the binds of society and seeking harmony with nature. He emphasizes those ideals when he states that “[he] went to the woods because he wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if [he] could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when [he] came to die, discover that [he] had not lived”(276). In other words, he wanted to escape from society and live

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He really innated the use of logos. They idea did not come across immediately but one the reader had though on the issue from some time the idea has become clear. He also used his writings as a tool to guide the way people think. Thoreau seemed more focused on reason; why is slavery wrong? Why should we give them freedom?

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In the chapter, “The Village” Thoreau begins to explain how he occasionally goes into the nearby village ‘every day or two’ and uses imagery for the readers to view how he sees the neighbors and village along with the way they gossip. “. . . and after learning the kernels and very last sieverful of news–what had subsided, the prospects of war and peace, and whether the world was likely to hold together much longer–-I was let out through the rear avenues, and so escaped to the woods again.” (Walden pg 82). Additionally, he states that “I am convinced that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be unknown.”

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“While I enjoy the friendship of the seasons I trust that nothing can make life a burden to me. The gentle rain which waters my beans and keeps me in the house today is not drear and melancholy, but good for me too. ”He compares Mother Nature with humans throughout the chapter, saying that mother nature provides thousand wonderful, beautiful, and interesting things, and fellow human beings seem to be interested in only what they can get out of you and who offer little in exchange. Thoreau feels that, rather than being near the greatest number of people, people must live and work in the place most important to their various

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For two years, he lives in the woods of Walden Pond, experiencing what life is beyond society. He believes that society is controlled and unfulfilling, as it sucks away a person’s potential to live his or her own life. In order to attain a better life, people work tirelessly for a dream so far out of reach, which defines conformity. Thoreau does not follow such a distasteful lifestyle, which proves his dissatisfaction for society and his will to resist the routine lifestyle. Instead, he is devoted to his own morals and is not easily persuaded by society’s temptations, such as the luxurious items advertised in poster boards during his visit to town.

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Thoreau had the ability to isolate himself whenever he wished. He urges us to do the same. Thoreau’s philosophy may seem great, but it poses many threats in jeopardizing communities. For example, it could negatively impact economies.

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Henry David Thoreau especially supported the interaction between man and nature. With his experiment at Walden, he addresses a modern concept known as minimalism, focusing on the way one must supply for himself with his basic necessities. His intentions were not to isolate himself, but moreso to separate himself from a life dependent upon others. Through his actions, he is able to criticise society and many of their needs.

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On page 410, he states, “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.” When Thoreau made the decision to explore the woods by Walden Pond, he was reducing his dependence on property, just as

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Consequently, what Thoreau proposed was simplicity rejecting modern civilization to return to nature and let the individual to develop his/her highest possibilities. Thoreau not only made a critique of the modern society as Emerson did, but also he practiced his ideology: he experienced that life is better without crowd, luxuries and complexity. The transcendentalist poet spent two year close to nature. He lived at Walden Pond where he wrote entire journals recounting his experience. Thoreau is well known for his book “Walden” (1854).

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Henry David Thoreau is one of the primary promoters of the transcendentalist movement and has been inspiring people to take on the transcendentalist lifestyle ever since the mid 1800’s. Mccandless was an admirer of Henry’s philosophy but he wasn’t as fully immersed in his work and ideals as Thoreau was to his own. His intentions were not as closely aligned to the movement as Thoreau’s and the difference between these icons are clearly visible. Self reliance is one of the most significant components of the transcendentalism movement that Henry David Thoreau contributed to in his literary career. “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.” - (taken from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”).

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In Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, the author expresses the immense longing that we, as human beings, need to give up our connection to our ever-growing materialism in order to revert back to self-sufficient happiness. In Walden, the reader is able to infer that Thoreau feels as if we are becoming enslaved by our material possessions, as well as believes that the study of nature should replace and oppose our enslavement, and that we are to “open new channels of thought” by turning our eyes inward and studying ourselves. Thoreau feels that we are becoming enslaved by our material possessions. As stated in the chapter “In the Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”, Thoreau states that “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.” (972).

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Why I Went to the Woods by Henry David Thoreau is a piece of literature taken from the book Walden that discusses Thoreau’s desire to experience life and it's meaning by living by the most simple terms possible. Thoreau lived off the land, built his own home, hunted and fished his own food. Through these things, Thoreau experienced how life is lived without luxury and only with the raw basics. Although his passion for the natural world shows through his writing his goal is not to persuade others to follow in his footsteps by going out and living in nature. Thoreau wanted others to follow him by living their best life which would be achieved by following their passions and the things they enjoy.

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