...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...
Words: 581 - Pages: 3
...the truth about human’s existence. Thoreau proceeded on this journey to live with an agglomeration of simplicity. Thoreau chose this lifestyle of simplicity on his own volition, without any outside influence as expressed in “Seeing the Light.” In this excerpt Thoreau discusses the negative impacts of over-working, stresses the advantages of disassociating with the negative aspects society, and enabling ones self to experience a spiritual awakening. He wanted to have his life changed and in this excerpt he reflects and implies his own thoughts to create this change for himself. Thoreau views working in a negative way because he believes that society as a whole is working too often and too fast. Thoreau does not like the “modern gadgets”. He lists the telegraph and the railroad as specific examples. This passage explains that the railroad is a poison to the countrymen’s lives because it changes their slow paced lives into fast paced, hectic lives. As a result, people spend most of their time rushing around everywhere trying to get everything done as quickly as possible but ironically, people are always tardy. Thoreau wants people to stay at home and mind their own business so their lifestyles will not be altered to a faster pace. Thoreau is very conservative and traditional; he does not want anyone changing his life into what everyone else is moving towards. He wants to be like the countrymen, unaffected by the hectic lifestyle. Thoreau indicates that if one spends their...
Words: 774 - Pages: 4
...David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson were both influential writers of the transcendentalist movement in the early to mid-nineteenth century. Before moving into solitude, Thoreau had experienced two tragic deaths of close ones: his brother John in 1842, and two weeks later, Emerson’s son, Waldo, who Thoreau had deeply cared about. After not writing for two months following these deaths, Thoreau finally wrote a letter to Emerson in which he attempts to comfort Emerson by connecting himself to Emerson through their similar transcendental beliefs that emotional and spiritual rebirth is a significant function of nature’s glory, that nature is all-powerful so humans should base their lives off of it, and that having life does not mean one...
Words: 1042 - Pages: 5
...Chris McCandless, and Henry David Thoreau embrace the 19th century philosophy of transcendentalism. After reading Into the Wild by Krakauer and Thoreau’s excerpts from Walden readers start to see similarities between McCandless and Thoreau though the transcendentalism theme of nature and social reforms. One of the first transcendentalism beliefs the McCandless follows is nature. For example, McCandless does not always take the easy paths. McCandless says “All hope collapse! The canal does not reach the ocean, but merely peters out into a vast swamp’’ (McCandless 35). McCandless wants new ideas, places, people, and experiences in his life. He does not want the same life every day. McCandless wants to get out of his confront zone and in the world. This directly relates to the idea of Thoreau. In Walden, Thoreau says, “I did not wish to take the cabin passage, but rather to go before the mast and on the deck of the world” (Thoreau). What Thoreau is saying in the quote above is he rather go take a grown up trail nobody has been through in a while than a well know hiking trail, he wants to get out into nature and see what life has in store just like McCandless. In the two quotes quoted above both men in each of the quotes they both wanted the same thing to get out into nature and experience the wildest adventures, not...
Words: 543 - Pages: 3
...Transcendentalism is a pragmatic philosophy, that emphasizes the ideas of individual development and potential. One man who followed the ideas of Transcendentalism was Christopher McCandless- the main character from the movie Into the Wild. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were both influential transcendentalists that preached ideas in their writing. Throughout the movie Chris McCandless followed to large Transcendentalist ideas: living truly to himself, and living with simplicity. Chris does live the life of a Transcendentalist because he chose to leave everything behind him to live his life honestly, and with simplicity to become happy. Living an honest live is acting and believing on what is best for yourself, not what believe or value. Thoreau in Walden in Conclusion, explains the importance of the individualistic lifestyle for everyone. Thoreau says, “Rather than love, than money, than fame, give me truth” (214). This means knowing the truth is the most important thing to know. Thoreau would rather have truth rather than relationships with others, financial success, and social success. The real truth is hiding and for one to find it must, get away from all of the distractions of...
Words: 835 - Pages: 4
...Thoreau “Walking” From the essay “Walking”, Thoreau gives an explanation of the relationship between men and nature through his first sentence “absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil”(Thoreau, 71). Throughout the essay “Walking”, the text involves much language and arguments that might be recognized as anti-civilization though today. Although Thoreau feels that men should live closer to nature in order to achieve a more fulfilled life, and stay away from the forces come from the past, society and today’s materialism, Thoreau neither fully rejected civilization nor completely embraced wildness. In “Walking,” Thoreau demonstrates his strong anti-civilization proclivities in his introduction of the essay “to...
Words: 1201 - Pages: 5
...Thoreau lived his life in the moment. He did not believe in having material possessions like many of the people of his time and of today. He believed in taking the world in with every breathe and moment he spent on this planet. This led him to value freedom. He believed in never being chained down, never committing oneself to a certain life or lifestyle unless they had lived and experienced life to what he deemed as appropriate prior to doing so. In this passage Thoreau uses a literary analogy to describe a belief that he holds. He compares the act of farming to the act of living life and making the decisions in that life as well as escaping the confines that government places on it’s citizens. "All that I could say, then, with respect to farming on a large scale, (I have always cultivated a garden,) was, that I had had my seeds ready. Many think that seeds improve with age. I have no doubt that time discriminates between the good and the bad; and when at last I shall plant, I shall be less likely to be disappointed. But I would say to my fellows, once for all, As long as possible live free and uncommitted. It makes little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.” ~Thoreau, 1024. This passage occurs right after Thoreau speaks of the only home that he actually purchased in the Hollowell farm. He spoke about how he never wanted to purchase a place because he then was stuck in that one spot. He had planted his roots and could not observe the beauty...
Words: 1350 - Pages: 6
...Daynah Clements Mr. Bergeron Portable #3 Wednesday, May 6th, 2015 Walden Walden was written in first person about the events and ideas that came to Thoreau during his time living at Walden Pond in the eighteen hundreds. Walden is based on Thoreau’s journey at Walden Pond which was a sixty-two acre body of water a few miles from his parents' home in Concord, Massachusetts. He decided to build a cabin and live at Walden Pond for 2 years so he could show people that they only truly need 4 things in life which are food, shelter, clothing and fuel. He officially started this expedition in late March 1845 and left the Pond on September 6th 1847. Thoreau focused on many different themes, including the relationship between light and dark, the ideas and importance of nature, the meaning of progress, the importance of detail, and the relationship between the mind and body. While being at Walden Thoreau developed many philosophical ideas concerning knowing yourself, living simply and deliberately, and seeking truth. He was a poet and a philosopher who lived a life of simplicity in order to make a direct connection between people, God, and nature. I could adapt to Thoreau’s philosophy to an extent. There are somethings I like about his novel Walden like; not wanting to go with society, being your own person, finding yourself, living life to its fullest, seeing that everything is a want not a need etc… I wondered throughout the whole book if he left and at the end I got my answer, then...
Words: 603 - Pages: 3
...life as it is. The novel Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, is a day to day account of his experiences at Walden Pond. Thoreau focused on the idea of a simple life and encouraged his readers to simplify their lives as he stated, “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.” It may have been easier to live by his theory of a simple life in the 1800’s as opposed to today because of the latest advancements in technology. The American population has become very dependent on the luxuries of life (such as the computer, the car, the cell phone, etc.) that it would be more difficult to live and function without them. Thanks to the media and advertising, there is a constant race between people to obtain the latest technology or even fashion apparel. For example; about a three weeks ago, a pair of Jordan sneakers, the Concords, were released in stores. Almost every teenager in America battled to buy these sneakers. It got way out of hand, to the point where a group of boys stabbed a young man just to steal his sneakers. Thoreau’s idea of living a simple life should be taken more into consideration these days. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. The general public is more materialistic these days than ever and it would be very difficult to break them out of this habit. Thoreau talked about how he once considered buying the Hollowell...
Words: 805 - Pages: 4
...Walden Summary In his first chapter, "Economy," Thoreau introduces his purpose in writing the book, saying he intends to answer questions people have asked about his reasons for living alone in a cabin in the woods near Walden Pond for two years. He explains that most people live their lives as if sleeping, blindly following the ways of their parents, and become trapped into these lives by owning property and slaving in jobs to maintain their way of life. In contrast, he sought to discover the true necessities of life and built a cabin, for the cost of $28. 12 _ near Walden Pond, where he lived for two years, beginning in the summer of 1845. Making a profit of $8.71 _ by selling the beans he grew and working occasionally at odd jobs, he found he was able to support himself with very little work and much time for contemplation of himself and nature. Thoreau, in the second chapter, "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For," talks about how he once considered buying the Hollowell farm for himself but the purchase fell through. Instead, he created a new existence for himself at Walden, where he found joy and fulfillment in nature, truly awakening in his mornings there, while most of society remains perpetually asleep, living mean lives when the possibility of a much better life is possible. The key to achieving such a life, he says, is simplicity. In the third chapter, "Reading," Thoreau describes how he derives enlightenment from reading Homer and other great writers, men who spoke...
Words: 1407 - Pages: 6
...Viewing Thoreau through the eyes of Wordsworth There are times when reading an essay that it is confusing to understand what the author is trying to purvey. Later, gaining more knowledge of the subject through other authors, it is easier to see what previous authors that have been read where trying to say. Looking at Henry David Thoreau’s “Solitude” after reading William Wordsworth’s “The World is Too Much with Us” brought clarity to many aspects of Thoreau’s essay. Wordsworth’s poem brought clarity to what Thoreau believed some people are missing or closing themselves off to when they sever their ties to the natural world, the bond that Thoreau himself has with nature and why it seems he has found happiness. There are many aspects of nature that many people miss that both Thoreau and Wordsworth see. When Wordsworth speaks of “getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; / little we see in nature that is ours” (356), it clarifies a conversation Thoreau has within his essay with one of his “townsmen, who has accumulated what is called a handsome property” (50). The conversation that Thoreau has with this townsman leads the man to asking Thoreau how he could “give up so many of the comforts of life” (50). When Wordsworth’s quote is applied, it helps to illuminate the point that many people are so busy trying to gain material possessions that they can no longer see simple beauty in nature; everything has to have a monetary value to make it worthwhile for many people to pursue...
Words: 1032 - Pages: 5
...1. Thoreau, when he states “ Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” is asking for people to relegate themselves to the most basic needs and capture reality at its essence avoiding the many complications of life that deter us from what real living is. Thoreau is living in a time period where vast changes in way of life are being seen at all levels. Railroads are flourishing, industrialization is starting, and urbanization is booming which greatly differs the highly agricultural notion of the early 1800s. This notion is exemplified when Thoreau states: “The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by the way are all external and superficial, is jut such an unwieldy and overgrown establishment, cluttered with furniture and tripped up by its own traps.” He is calling for people to slow down and reflect on all the changes that are happening to not wildly and blindly take up everything that is coming out in technology and changes. It is summed up by the sentence “It lives too fast.” Interestingly, this sentence is in the middle of long-winded sentences in an attempt to call attention to the claim that everything is going too fast and no reflective measures are being taken for possible consequences of everything that is happening. 5. Thoreau’s advice and sentiments in the essay are to be taken as suggestions for periodic reflection on life’s true meaning. Thoreau’s main claim is that in the highly changing world, people are no reflecting on what true value...
Words: 374 - Pages: 2
...James Miller 10143 02/12/12 Ms. Freeman Today’s Transcendentalism Have you heard a song like “Handlebars,” or “Prayer of the Refugee”? Those are both very good songs, but have you ever realized that they have to do a lot with nature, confidence, and self-reliance? Those characteristics have to do with transcendentalism. Even today, despite transcendentalism is two hundred years old, transcendentalism can be found in modern songs such as “I Can Ride My Bike with No Handlebars”. Self reliance is when you rely on nobody but your self; where you don’t rely on technology or your buddy to do stuff. In the song “Handlebars” it says “I can make a living off a magazine, I can design an engine that gets 64 miles to the gallon of gasoline…” The Flobots are inferring that they can make a living off anything, relying on nothing but themselves to survive. While in the exert from “Walden”, it says “where I sat, there I might live, and the landscape radiated from me accordingly.” What Henry Thoreau is saying is that wherever he may go he will live; relying on nobody but himself and only himself to survive. Both the Flobots and Thoreau are saying that they will rely on no one but themselves to live and survive. Going against the flow, swimming up river, these are all ideas of free-thought. Free though is where someone does something or thinks something that not everyone does or is thinking. In the song “Handlebars” it says “I can ride my bike with no handlebars, no handle bars...
Words: 540 - Pages: 3
...Transcendentalism took off in the 1800’s with a little help from Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Emily Dickenson. These transcendentalists expressed their beliefs through writings such as poems and essays. These few transcendentalists went out of their way to represent their ideals and beliefs. Only a number of people understood the idea of transcendentalism because it is so complex and involved a much deeper thought process. It was this complexity within Transcendentalism that makes it stick out in history still to this day. Transcendentalism is an idealistic philosophical and social movement that developed in New England. Transcendentalism was developed in reaction to rationalism in 1836. It taught that divinity pervades all nature and humanity. The transcendentalist members held progressive views on feminism and communal living. Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the better known transcendentalists, became a transcendentalist in 1832 which lead to the writing of “Self-Reliance” and “The American Scholar.” He later became the central figure of his literary and philosophical group, known as the American Transcendentalist. In the 1840’s he founded and co-edited the literary magazine The Dial. In 1841 and 1844 he published essays, including, “Self-Reliance,” “Friendship” and “Experience.” In “Self-Reliance” Emerson writes: A man should learn to detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of...
Words: 1143 - Pages: 5
...Chris McCandless, Jon Krakauer, and Henry David Thoreau all believe in the central idea of Transcendentalism. After reading Into the Wild by Krakauer and some excerpts from Walden, we start to gather that Chris bases some of his actions and how he lives based on Thoreau’s ideas. Chris and Henry both embrace to not stay on a particular path, to embrace the idea of wanting more in life, and simplicity. Both men’s life choices are examples of Transcendentalism. One of the first examples of transcendentalism is when Chris embraces to not stay on a beaten path. For example, Chris sends Ron a letter telling him to have radical change in his life, to do things that he has never done. McCandless says, “ I think that you should make radical changes in your lifestyle and begin to boldly do things in which you may previously have thought of doing”…(Krakauer 56). McCandless wants Ron to experience the life of nomads, Chris’s belief to not stay on a set path, to do his own thing. Thoreau says, “It is remarkable how easily and sensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for yourself …” (Walden). This quote relates to McCandless’s belief to not stay on a set path, to live the extreme, and to not remain doing the same thing for a lifetime. Not having a...
Words: 643 - Pages: 3
