The primary character in this story isn't, as one may speculate from the title, an insightful or an old individual; he is a kid. This kid, Seth Richmond, who is held and garbled, has earned the notoriety of being a "Thinker." Even his mom is somewhat perplexed with him. Again Anderson demonstrates the truth behind appearance: Seth was "not what the men of the town, and even his mother, thought him to be. No great underlying purpose lay back of his habitual silence and he had no definite plan for his life" he was more manipulative than astute. At last, Seth Richmond needs to be more similar to other individuals, yet in the meantime, he doesn't.

Perusing "The Thinker," I understood that the judiciousness which at first gave off an impression …show more content…
To start with, Seth stands viewing Abner Groff, the town bread cook, and longing that "he himself might become thoroughly stirred by something, even by the fits of sullen anger for which Baker Groff was noted." Second, as he strolls with Helen, Seth sees the town lamplighter moving deliberately down the road and lighting the lights. In the meantime, he sees that a breeze has bothered the dozing fowls with the goal that they are flying about while two bats are seeking after a swarm of night flies. This balance of regular movement with Seth's constant arranging, instead of doing, is made more clear in the third scene when Seth envisions that he and Helen are lying in the tall grass under a tree and around them, a swarm of honey bees is "singing as they worked." In this fanciful scene, "a peculiar reluctance kept him from kissing her lips, but he felt he might have done that if he wished. Instead, he lay perfectly still . . . listening to the army of bees that sang the sustained masterful song of labor above his head." Demonstrating that he generally needed to accomplish something yet held back himself demonstrates that he wanted to be more similar to other so he could follow up on his emotions and