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The Importance Of Life In Walden By Henry David Thoreau

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In Henry David Thoreau’s book, “Walden”, he not only writes about his own experience, or so called “experiment” of leaving human society to gain more spiritual and self awareness, but he also discusses the importance of not being a slave to mainstream society. Thoreau had the ideology that one’s happiness does not depend on the possessions they own nor the luxurious life they may live, but rather living a minimalist and stress free life that revolves around being self aware and surrounded by nature. He talks about the importance of living your life in a manner that fits for you, rather than living the life that society deems as appropriate. He directly talked to younger generations in his book, explaining that we as young people should not …show more content…

While life now is completely different than when Thoreau wrote, “Walden”, the concept of what he is advising is the same. We have the ability to live minimalist lives while still having food in our mouths and a bed to sleep in, it just does not have to be the absolute best of the best. He explains that having unnecessary materialistic items only give us temporary happiness and satisfaction for a while, until we want more. Then it just becomes a never ending cycle of wanting more and more, all just to prove we that we have the ability to buy nice …show more content…

While I could never be completely isolated for the rest of my life, I now firmly believe living a simplistic and minimalist life surrounded by nature is what will make me feel most alive and happy. My generation by far has the absolute most stress on them and we are constantly being told what to do, when to do it, and how to do it. Life is now being treated as a job rather than a simple existence, and it is not something I will continue to support. This may mean I will never have a fancy home, car, or clothes, but at the end of the day I’ll have my happiness and my sanity and that is all I need. Saying this book changed my life may be a bit of an overstatement, but it's definitely not false. I had the chance to really think about what I believe is most important in life and what I want to do with my existence here on earth. I am now confident in the decision that I can take my life into my own hands and not have to depend on a single person or item for anything, and that gives me an immense amount of joy. I have officially started a new beginning with a new mindset, and I will never look

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Each generation is unique and has different perceptions, ideas, and people. Thoreau wants us to make the most of what is given to us and put aside all societal expectations. The biblical allusion of the dog and the lion indicates that a living dog is better than a dead lion because a dead lion can’t do anything since it’s dead. It doesn’t matter if we are dogs, we are at least alive and have possibility to be the best we can in the generation we are meant to be

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On a humid summer’s day, in 1787, 55 delegates traveled from 12 different states to meet in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. Although they knew that the Articles of Confederation wouldn’t hold, they never intended on replacing the entirety of the Articles. The Articles of Confederation were a form of government that was swiftly created, during the Revolutionary War. It led to a central government that lacked power to do simple tasks. The delegates seeked to create a new central government that was powerful enough to lead the country, but wasn’t ruled by one person or a group of people.

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Henry David Thoreau stated in Walden 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... I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life” (“What I Lived For 59). The transcendental lifestyle, as explained by Thoreau, is structured by the beliefs of purifying the mind and body from the corruption of modern society and its materialistic ideals. Embracing the spiritual aspects that nature provides allows us to grow physically and intellectually as a human, and ultimately finding our individual purposes in life. Both the book, Into the

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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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He wants to live life to the fullest and enjoys it but with all of the technology around him, who can enjoy it. In Walden, he quotes, “For my part, I could easily do without the post-office. I think that there are very few important communications made through it.”. In this he is stating that,for the most part, there is no point in that route of communication because most of it is not worth hearing or being apart of. With this information anyone can conclude that Thoreau would not want anything to do with forms of communication at all; however, a laptop might have everything he would ever need or

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Criticism of society is one of the means by which Thoreau seeks to set out his vision of a good life. A taste for new fashions, he believes, is one of society 's ills because it leads people away from themselves, distracting them

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This highlights how unrealistic it is to live the successful self-reliant life that Thoreau was trying to encourage. In addition, despite how romantic Thoreau’s “solitude” sounds, in reality, living life isolated from society is incredibly lonely. When Christopher McCandless tried to incorporate the value of self-reliance into his life by taking an adventure to Alaska alone, he was left feeling incredibly lonely. At the end of his journey, he realized the flaws of this lifestyle. McCandless writes, “happiness only real when shared” (Penn).

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Henry David Thoreau was a philosopher, poet, and a very outspoken person about society. He discusses his opinions on how people should live in his essay “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” Thoreau's philosophy of simplicity and individualism and self-sufficiency poses many dangers for communities as a whole. Although there are many setbacks, his philosophy is, however, still viable today. Thoreau strongly advocates self-sufficiency and individualism in this essay.

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His house was only, “[T]en feet wide by fifteen long . . . with a garret and a closet, a large window on each side, two trap doors, one door at the end, and a brick fireplace opposite” (41). Although, Thoreau's cabin is small, it is more than sufficient to hold his meager possessions: “My furniture consisted of a bed, a table, a desk, three chairs, a looking-glass three inches in diameter, a pair of tongs and andirons, a kettle, a skillet, and a frying-pan, a dipper, a wash-bowl, two knives and forks, three plates, one cup, one spoon, a jug for oil, a jug for molasses, and a japanned lamp” (56). His cabin along with some of his furniture were crafted from his own labor, the reason being that he finds it simple and natural to be self sufficient. Here Thoreau expands on the importance of self sufficiency, “Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be universally developed. . .

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Through the quote these men are trying to aggressively get people to join what they view an “odd-fellow society.” By convincing other people a society can be formed by the image and goal of the people who seek individuals. Sometimes though it is used in a negative way and it feels that the masses are prey to the people who seek a society that resembles their image. After Thoreau leaves his cabin after a few years, he reflects on his findings. One of the things he states is that “our whole life is startlingly moral.

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Thoreau thinks that “The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation”, meaning they appear content yet are constantly in a state of distress which they put upon themselves; attributing this to the way in which humans obsess themselves with certain things (Thoreau, 7). I associate Thoreau’s objections to fashion, architecture, philanthropy and red meat with a line from the Economy chapter, which reads, “So much for a blind obedience to a blundering oracle…”, reminding one of the fact that we simply follow the actions of others without ever pausing to question society or think about what is truly necessary (6). This has a strong connection to the way in which Thoreau sees fashion. Simply because others start wearing something, we follow in suit

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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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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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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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Thoreau emphasizes living simply by reducing the excess in our live to only the bare essentials, and relying on oneself to do so. Thoreau claims that the only way to

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