...Monique Edwards M. Gonzalez-Hernandez English 2327.003 November 1, 2012 Where I Lived, and What I Lived For Where I Lived, and What I Lived For is the title of the second chapter in the book Walden on Life in the Woods by Henry David Thoreau. The first part of this chapter explains how he built a hut near the forest of Walden Pond close to Concord, Massachusetts where he could gather his thoughts away from society. Thoreau writes in Walden: "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" (Thoreau 1028). Thoreau was an educated man who chose to live in poverty to explain to his readers that life can be as simple as nature. According to some critics, life cannot be as simple for various reasons: “This is contrasted to the human society from which he isolated himself, of whose utilitarianism, materialism, and consumerism he was extremely critical” (Environmental). In order to agree with Thoreau, one would need to have the same open mind and the ability to see and think outside the norm of society. Those who disagree with Thoreau do not believe that one can still “live deliberately” (Thoreau 1028). The critics clearly see that living such a simple life as Thoreau writes about is impossible. Life cannot be as simple as nature for many reasons. One reason is the outcome of life is not always simple...
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...Thoreau claims that nature aids in the individual prospering and becoming purified of the corruption caused by society. In the second chapter of Walden, titled Where I Lived and What I Lived For, Thoreau states, “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself” (❡14). Through this quotation, Thoreau is showing the clarity brought by nature and the positive qualities it causes in those who embrace it. Thoreau uses “innocence” to suggest that nature is pure and is not a sinister thing like the society Thoreau escaped from through nature. This quotation aids in understanding Thoreau’s view on Nature and the positive effect Thoreau believes it brings. This evidence explains...
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...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...
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...Michael Lichtenwalner Father Samway Texts and Contexts 11 April 2012 In What Ways Does Thoreau's Walden Embody the Concept of Transcendentalism? Social networking, a craze sweeping across America, allows people to become connected with their friends, family, coworkers, and acquaintances 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Users of social networking websites such as Facebook and Twitter are periodically updated with happenings and insight into the lives of others. This would likely seem meaningless and idiotic to Henry David Thoreau, a prominent transcendentalist American author. He encourages his readers to live lives “simple and well as Nature”, independent from those of others and society (Thoreau 53). He therefore moved to Walden Pond on July 4, 1845 for two years and two months in order to live a simple and independent life. Thoreau claims that “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 have not lived” (61). In Walden, Thoreau upholds beliefs that he shares with transcendental authors such as Ralph Waldo Emerson. These beliefs include solitude, self-reliance, immersion in nature, and spiritual rebirth. Transcendentalism, a philosophical movement in the 19th century, stood against the individual’s conformity to societies and institutions. Instead, transcendentalism encouraged individuals to rise above society and...
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...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 of the truth and speak of life in terms too noble for most to understand. Most of society, however...
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...Into The Wild Thoreau Quote Essay By: Kayla Hermening “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 lived.” This is one of the many quotes that Chris McCandles lived by. He did exactly what the quote states. He went to live off the land and only have the essentials of life. During the summer when me and my family go Up North and stay at our cabin stranded it the middle of no where, this is exactly how I feel. While living in the society we live in today it’s really hard to get away from technology. The cabin is so far out that we barely get cell phone service and we can’t get the internet. We have cable but i much rather be outside riding the ATV than watching some stupid TV show about teens getting drunk and then knocked up. We don’t even have to use our cars when we are up north because we can drive our ATV right into town. Writers who come up with quotes have a great impact on society today. There are several things that quotes can influence, such as writers. In the song Runaway by Love and Theft, it says “and pack my bags and never look back, run a parallel line with the railroad tracks and make my getaway. This says exactly what Chris did accept Chris didn’t bring much with him when he left. “And from a rearview I got a clear view of who I used to be, a little bit faster don’t wanna turn around. This...
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...Paper #2-Walden American Lit. I 15 November 2005 The Serene Depths In Henry David Thoreau’s narrative, “Walden, or Life in the Woods,” the author tells of what his life was like while he lived in the woods of Massachusetts, beside Walden Pond. Among his many descriptions, Thoreau devotes a large portion of his writing to recreating Walden Pond in the reader’s mind, partly to create the setting for his story, but also because he felt genuine awe and love for his surroundings, and he wished to convey that love to others. Chapter nine of “Walden” is aptly titled, “The Ponds,” and in this chapter, Thoreau describes not only Walden Pond, but also some of the other ponds that are in the area where he lived for more than two years. He writes extensively about “the ribbed bottom [of the pond], which was strewn with the wrecks of the forest” (Thoreau, 1899), and waxes poetic about the mysterious depths of Walden Pond. One of the aspects of Walden Pond that he strives to impress on the reader is the sheer depth of the water. Throughout the chapter, and in later chapters as well, he describes a seemingly bottomless lake that is nearly mystical in its appearance. Later in the book, Thoreau reveals how deep the lake actually is, according to his calculations, but in Chapter 9, he does not go into the reality. Instead, he paints a picture of a magical place that has no beginning and no end. This is effective because it reminds the reader of the greatness of the earth compared...
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...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 bards and sages. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson conveys that one must follow for what they believe in. Emerson was a believer in the “divine sufficiency of the individual.” He viewed nature as “the plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, and a perennial festival dressed.” His works define being a transcendentalist because they include descriptions of the profound sense of nature, human...
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...According to We’re Not Easy: The Millennial Minimalism Series from Huffington Post by Liz Kavdanovsky, the Minimalism is a new form of lifestyle, “living life in its purest form. To think that the key is as simple as simplifying life is a refreshing revelation, to say the least”. Similar to what Kavdanovsky expresses in her essay, Minimalism is a form of life, which pursues the elimination of useless or unrelated things and only focusing on the essential parts of every aspect of life, for sake of the simplification and simplicity of life. This Minimalism is now a new, trending form of living for the most happiness, which is most supported by young Millennials. According to the article, The Fall of Materialism: Why More Millennials Aspire to Have Nothing, now many new...
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...transcendentalism. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau moved to the woods by a pond to live simply and the way he wanted to with nature. In “Nature”, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was Thoreau’s friend, writes about how nature brings us back to who we really are. In the excerpt from “Self-Reliance”, Emerson writes about how the only person you can really trust or need is yourself in order to have a simple, happy life. Thoreau and Emerson both believed that in order to have a happy life, you need to live simply. In the excerpt from Walden called “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For.” Henry Thoreau writes that he “moved to the woods to live deliberately”. This means he willingly wanted to live in the woods to find himself in nature. He also wanted to “front only the essential facts of life, and see if...
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...The Romantic Heart Christina Jones ENG/106 02/24/2014 Debora Aubuchon The Romantic Heart Emotion plays a large part in our lives, no matter what time period we live in. Emotion has fueled literary masterpieces from Ancient to modern times. Shakespeare wrote of love, anger and revenge and Jonathan Swift wrote of what is behind the curtain of love. As you read on you will encounter three literary works and see the part that emotion plays into them and how these pieces are influenced by the many authors who came before them. Jonathan Swift’s poem entitled, The Lady’s Dressing Room tells the story of Strephon, who takes a peek into his love, Celia’s, dressing room. Strephon is appalled by what he finds. In the beginning Strephon refers to Celia as a Goddess, “The Goddess from her Chamber issues, Array'd in Lace, Brocades and Tissues.” (Swift, 1732/2008, pp. 1994). However, as the poem continues Swift makes it clear that Strephon no longer feels this way by writing, “But swears how damnably the Men lie, In calling Celia sweet and cleanly.” (1732/2008, pp.1994). The Lady’s Dressing Room explores and tries to explain the private relationship between male and female. This literary masterpiece digs deep into the core of what is beneath just outside attraction or lust. True love is more than what is just on the surface. True love is when you can love both the good and the bad, the beautiful and the ugly. Swift’s poem is filled with many emotions. The character, Strephon, moves from...
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...people aspire to be confident and self-reliant, these qualities are common themes in literature. This essay compares three quotes, taken from three very different pieces of literature about American values, in which confidence and self-reliance are illustrated. “I refuse to give up my obsession. America, stop pushing. I know what I’m doing.” – Allen Ginsberg, “America.” Allen Ginsberg’s “America” presents a sharp criticism of American culture by someone who has almost completely rejected its values. The poem’s speaker addresses America directly, as if he were giving a lecture or a sermon to the nation itself instead of to the American people. The nation’s aggressive anticommunist foreign policy and its culture of materialism and conformity are the targets of the speaker’s criticism. This poem was written in 1956 and was one of the first widely read literary statements of political unrest in the post-World War II America. Themes from the recent wars are prominent such as the nuclear bomb or Asian foreign policy, but the poem also depicts national racial unrest and the fight with communism that would characterize the Cold War foreign policy positions of America in the second half of the 20th century. I find this particular quote from the poem to demonstrate confidence and self-reliance on the part of the speaker. It’s difficult to give up something that you have strong feelings about, especially when sticking with it goes against popular opinion - it...
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...Society clearly traces the search for identity and how every individual has a unique identity. It is easy to see that each character represents a certain quality. Todd's individual traits, especially his newfound confidence, portray Emersonian attributes. Charlie's fearless character who leads the group represents Thoreau's qualities. However, Neil is a meld of both qualities through his desires to please himself and not conform to his father's ideals. Todd, the initially reclusive member of the group, shows Emersonian ideals in that he eventually breaks out of the shell conforming him, preventing him from fully interacting with his peers; he finally shatters the barrier restricting him from freely being himself by reading his poem to the class, finally expressing the Emersonian ideal of nonconformity: “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist” (Emerson 279). At the beginning of the film, Todd is too shy to be comfortable with the people around him, thus already estranging him from society. However, as he spends more time in Mr. Keating’s class, he learns to open himself up to people and be comfortable with his own personality. Eventually, he reaches the breaking point where he must take a complete step out of his comfort zone (by reading his poem) in order to progress any further. Todd’s continuous demonstration of Emerson’s ideals is apparent in the situation when he refuses to support Neil’s decision to break the rules to be in the pay. Todd openly displays his disapproval, showing...
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...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...
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...always well received. Thoreau began his lifelong friendship with Ralph Waldo Emerson when he tutored Emerson’s brother William in 1843 on Staten Island, boarding with Emerson and his wife. He helped Emerson edit the Transcendentalist magazine The Dial. Thoreau kept a journal at Emerson’s urging, which aided him in his writing. He took a canoe trip with his brother John during the first two weeks of September 1839, which experience he transformed into a volume of poems and essays entitled A Week on the Concord and Merrimac Rivers (1849). While he published 1000 copies himself, only about 300 sold. On July 4, 1845 Thoreau moved into a cabin on the shores of Walden Pond, on land belonging to Emerson, about two miles from Concord, and lived there alone for over two years. Thoreau condensed this outdoor life as if it were a single year in his classic Walden: Or, Life in the Woods (1854), in which he describes his lifestyle as experimental, emphasizing meditative awakening, the result of a wish “to live deliberately,” to shed materialism and to cultivate self-reliance. In July 1846 Thoreau spent a night in the Concord jail because he refused to pay a local poll tax in protest against the Mexican War and America’s persistence in...
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