...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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...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 live free, independent lives. Transcendentalism stemmed...
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...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...
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...The poems from Walden, “Nature”, and “Self-Reliance” all highlight key aspects of 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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...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...
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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...
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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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...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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...Yesterday, I lived in Wonderland. I wandered through the forest with Alice. I was a young girl, grasping tightly to innocence. I dreamed that I lived in a world of my own, where everything was Photo credit: Melinda M., Phoenix, AZthe opposite of what is. My imagination consumed me. I fantasized of untainted bliss. I was curious to find out more, to discover what the White Rabbit’s very important date was. I searched for my identity, meandering in an unknown land of bizarre creatures like the Mad Hatter. I didn’t know who I would be the next day or what would happen if I suddenly awoke from a dream. My mind soaked up the utter confusion like a sponge, and nonsense triumphed over all. Today, I am sitting on a log at Walden Pond. Henry David Thoreau kneels on the grass next to me. We admire the hues of the setting sun. Its intensity awakens me, reminding me that I am truly alive. Mother Nature gives me the gift of life, of merely being, wrapped in a little box and decoratively tied with a ribbon. My existence is simple. I ignore time, the 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, as I bathe in the magnificence of the natural environment around me. I discard my watch to witness the transformation from sun to moon. With Thoreau by my side, I forget civilization and simply listen to the sounds of nature. Tomorrow, I will reside in the Big Apple. I will share a cup of black coffee with Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. We will talk about literature and current events. I will march...
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...carries nine of his best poems and his essay Natural History of Massachusetts 1843 Leaves Emersons home to act as a tutor to Emersons nephew at Staten Island and to try his luck with the New York literary market. More publications of essays and poems. 1845: Goes to live in a hut beside Walden Pond. Commences his period of greatest literary productivity. 1846 Travels to Main; gathers some of the material later to go into The Maine Woods. 1847. Ends Walden experiment; resumes residence at Emerson home. 1849: Thoreaus first book, the Week, and most influential essay, Civil Disobedience, published. 1854 Walden or Life in the Woods published. 1857 Fight over slavery intensifies; Thoreau meets John Brown and is deeply impressed by him. 1860 More essays, including two on Brown are printed. 1862 Dies of tuberculosis on spring. Where I lived. By surveying, carpentry, and day-labor of various other kinds in the village in the meanwhile, for I have as many trades as fingers, I had earned $13.34. The expense of food for eight months, namely, from July 4th to March 1st, the time when these estimates were made though I lived there more than two yearsnot counting potatoes, a little green corn, and some peas, which I had raised, nor considering the...
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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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...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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...and in it he said that through exploring nature, man would find out more about himself. He also believed it was fundamental that man take a break from the distractions in society and get lost in ones thoughts about the natural world. “The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship”. This direct quote from "Nature" embodies the principles of the transcendentalist movement by restating their belief on separation from the church to build a better 'Eternal Self' with the universe and nature. Henry David Thoreau was inspired to start writing with a more transcendentalist view after borrowing a copy of Nature, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, from a neighbor. he was so heavily influenced by this essay and Emerson that he went to Walden Pond, land owned by Emerson, and built his own home. Here, he explored nature to its absolute depths and wrote many essay's. His best...
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...Writing Your Own Rules: Living deliberately in Thoreau Walden Henry David Thoreau once stated, “Why should we knock under and go with the stream? Let us not be upset and overwhelmed in that terrible rapid and whirlpool called a dinner, situated in the meridian shallows” (Thoreau 909). Thoreau has a very strong perspective on transcendentalism. Becoming a transcendentalist offers the right to trust one own intellect. Therefore, this quote demonstrates that Thoreau express to his audience the importance of being one’s self and not following society’s standards. Transcendentalism is referred to as society versus oneself. Henry David Thoreau believes learning to trust one’s individual intuitions and becoming a non-conformist allows individuals to live a more deliberately life. Henry David Thoreau used his selection, “Where I Lived, and What I lived For” to demonstrate how the changes of society serve as a distraction to an individual. Although, Thoreau was a non-conformist, he never stated it he allowed his actions to speak for him through his work. Thoreau notes, “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito’s wing that falls on the rails” (909). Due to the many changes of society, people always try...
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...3' away from his face. After climbing down from his loft bed into his 6' x 6 ½' living room, he would enter his 4' x 2' bathroom. To most people, Jay would appear to be a prisoner, and the conditions might appear inhumane, yet Jay is not a prisoner, nor has he been forced into these living conditions. In fact, Jay not only chose to live in such a small space, he designed it himself! Jay's house for ten years, the “Epu” is the size of a walk-in closet in most of today's homes, yet it contains a living room, desk, fully functioning kitchen, separate bathroom, and loft bed space. Jay Shafer is the owner of the Tiny Tumbleweed House Company, founder of the Small House Society, an ecological activist, a new-era architect, and a lifestyle revolutionary. His minimalist lifestyle design has been featured in The New York Times, The San Francisco Chronicle, The Wall Street Journal, and Time Magazine. He and his tiny house has been featured on “CNN”, “Oprah”, “This Old House” and countless local news stations. Around the country, people are purchasing his designs, attending his workshops, and following his revolutionary example of how to live life with less space and less possessions, resulting in less of a drain on resources and the environment. A Mixture of Motivations Today's economy suffers in part due to the housing boom and deflation of the past few years. Houses grew and grew, and so did their prices. People wanted more space for themselves and their possessions;...
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