Walking By Henry David Thoreau Essay
Transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Walking” is an amazing analysis of the relationship between man and nature, trying to find a balance between society and what we as primitive animals hold as rules of life. The essay exemplifies Thoreau’s personal feelings about nature with what he believes to be the nature of mankind as well as the nature of himself as an individual. Albeit with beautiful writing and some of the best imagery ever put onto paper, Thoreau’s essay is not without its flaws. In Thoreau’s essay, it is said that "In my afternoon walk I would fain forget all my morning occupations and my obligations to society". Thoreau off the bat states own personal feeliabouts about nature and the woods as a way to build an argument around the benefits nature and evening strolls have for the soul. …show more content…
It is my belief that a personal opinion or argument should not be taught as though it is the only practical or sound answer to an otherwise extremely broad and personal question. As we continue to read the essay, Thoreau suffers from this very same problem time and time again, an example being: “When we walk, we naturally go to the fields and woods: what would become of us if we walked only in a garden or a mall?”. Don’t get me wrong, Thoreau is a personal hero of mine and is on par with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and John Muir when it comes to affection for the beauty of nature, but to say that his own opinions and ideas are the opinions and ideas of everyone is nothing short of negligent. With all that Henry David Thoreaug writes, it would appear that most of it cannot be applied to the majority of people, and more so to his elf. I wish I could say that the essay eventually falls out of habit when associating his own personal traits and preferences with the preferences of the general public, but alas I
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472 Words | 2 PagesThoreau was against being together in a community, so he rapidly began to create a great literary masterpiece that stated how people are the reason of many of the problems today. The justification of Thoreau deciding to be isolated from everyone else was because he thinks that “We are in each other 's way.” When we stumble with one another we start arguments; greater arguments can cause fights, and small fights can lead to the spark of a great war. David Thoreau explains to us how when we argue we begin to “Lose respect” with one another, so he proposes to us that the solution to our problems with each other is simply to be
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1458 Words | 6 Pages“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
Thoreau Dialectical Journal
188 Words | 1 PagesAt this point in the narrative he tells readers about an experience he had while observing a woodchuck in the woods while on a walk. He then tells in detail how he wanted to eat this woodchuck in a brutal way. This thought process he was having while observing this animal brought him a better understanding that human beings still have a wild instinct inside of themselves. Which he respected the idea and acknowledged that these instincts still occurred within himself. This experience supported Thoreau belief that hunting/obtaining knowledge on nature was important at an early age.
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650 Words | 3 PagesIt is easy to see how Thoreau was encapsulated by the simple mystique of the wilderness. Nevertheless, I sit motionless in a tree, a sleeping monster in my arms, waiting to tear through the soft spoken forest surrounding me. I am not saddened by the idea of disturbing the sanctuary because the thoughts filling the silence enshrouding me are instead
Henry David Thoreau's Argument Essay
683 Words | 3 PagesHave you ever been in a situation where you were stuck in between what is morally acceptable and what is legally correct? Henry David Thoreau is a timeless symbol of an individualist who peacefully does what he thinks is right even if the laws state otherwise. Thoreau teaches and wants his readers to act on what is morally correct, take responsibility for an action, and to resist unjust laws. Thoreau was a man of morals, typically doing what he thought was right rather than obeying the laws.
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737 Words | 3 PagesFor 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.
Rhetorical Analysis Walden
441 Words | 2 PagesFurthermore, his use of tone to exemplify his argument is also effective as he condemns people for living rushed, unfulfilled lives for the sake of prosperity and materialistic possessions. When Thoreau says that ”when we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence, that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the shadow of the reality,”(279) he employs a critical tone by stating that people are blinded by these petty things that misconstrue
Henry David Thoreau Research Paper
1319 Words | 6 PagesThe Big Picture: Thoreau's Step Back From Society Viewed Alongside Society Today The proximity in which someone is from civilization can have a great influence on their thoughts and ideas about civilization and the nature that they live in. Henry David Thoreau spent a lot of his life moving around from the likes of New York City to Walden Pond; while squatting, as he referred to his stays in these places, he wrote some of his most interesting and notable works such as Civil Disobedience (1849) and Walden (1854). Noted as a transcendentalist, Thoreau was quite thoughtful of his surroundings as they gave great meaning to his life; the most meaningful of which was Walden Pond, an escape that overlooks Concord, Massachusetts, where he spent
Thoreau's Walden Research Paper Outline
2650 Words | 11 PagesSome of Thoreau’s best-known ideas include civil disobedience and simple living and environmentalism. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy shows Thoreau’s ethics and beliefs including his best-known ideas. In the subsection “Nature and Human Existence” the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy talks both about Thoreau's ties with nature, and simple living. One of the issues the section discusses is how Thoreau doesn’t consider aesthetic beauty to be real and how he “exhorts us to unclutter and simplify our lives, by eliminating the supposed necessities that can entrap us when we mistakenly construe them as essential” (“Henry David Thoreau” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy).
Similarities Between Into The Wild And Chris Mccandless
525 Words | 3 PagesHe suggests that you might look around yourself and really take into consideration as to how you are spending your short time you’re given in this life. Much like Chris McCandless, Henry David Thoreau looks around him and finds himself to be displeased. To quote Thoreau, “ 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.” Much like McCandless, Thoreau thought very little of money, jobs and other things of the civilized world. Henry Thoreau concluded that to live, not much is needed.
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