Walden Rhetorical Analysis

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I analyzed the attitude of the author Henry David Thoreau, in the excerpt from the story Walden, I believe he has realized that a simpler life with less ownership of things is a better way to live. He used many examples of figurative speech and I believe his tone is moralizing, in that he is trying to convince others to appreciate the simpler way of life. In this part of the book I have examined, Thoreau explains why he has moved to a secluded place to live. Tells how he was worried about not knowing what life is really like so he moved away from others and the demands of life. He writes that he did not want to end his life, and wonder if he had really experienced what God had intended us understand. Thoreau wrote that he wanted to “be able …show more content…

He attacks their way of life believing them to be an, “unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture, ruined by luxury and heedless expense”. Thoreau goes on to say how they have ruined their country with all the want, and commerce of the world. He later relates our life to the building of the railroads. In some way he says, we do not need the railroad if we would just, “stay home and mind our business”. He goes on to say that the rails were built by, Irishmen and Yankee men, they were used by the riders of the railroad to improve their own life. I am not sure I understand all his meaning in this passage but he writes, “ If some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon”. In conclusion this essay was interesting, by showing me how another person may look at life and explain why we should make our own life less complicated. His tone is a moralizing and a bit demanding, in the way he has explained the German Confederacy, and writes the word simplicity three times with an explication point. I do see his meaning in some of the figurative language, but in others it is hard to understand. This expert did make me think about what is really important in my own