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Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

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For years people have strived to live a life of simplicity. Today, that simple living is called minimalism and it has become a true way of life. Henry David Thoreau was one of the first people to bestow in a simple life and produced a true American literature classic from the lifestyle. Walden gives us detailed insight on Thoreau’s beliefs and what it was like for him to live in the woods. Thoreau had many reasons for wanting to go and live in the woods.
One of the reasons was to live a simple life, Thoreau wanted to create a lifestyle without all the luxuries everyone else lived with. Thoreau thought that one could live a perfectly well-rounded life with just a few things. He said “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail” (Thoreau 65). Through this quote he talks about how he believes that he can live a grand life with the least amount of necessities, and he did. At Walden Pond, he built himself a small cabin, grew his own food, and earned his money by his own manual labor. While living in the woods, Thoreau was able to truly understand how little a person needs to live a simple, free, and …show more content…
Thoreau believed that human souls were too dependent on luxuries like grocery stores and restaurants that provide things for them. He claimed that people, whose dependence was based on anything other than themselves only, were not truly living. Thoreau thought that some of life’s greatest joys lied deeply in nature where you get to know your true self and enjoy the simplest pleasures. Life’s essentials were found by stripping away everything forcing you to life’s lowest terms. The essentials needed were food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. Thoreau strongly believed in the power of nature and baring only with the simple things in life to live a great

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