Summary of Walden Pond :: essays papers

Summary of Walden PondFor about the first half of the book Thoreau questions thelifestyles that batch choose. He makes his readers wonder ifthey have chosen the kind of life that will really offer themhappiness. Are they purely living a career or some othernarrowly focused routine or is a worthwhile life cosmos lived.Thoreau wonders if the truly valuable elements of life arebeing taken advantage of if a person isnt living simply. If aperson is so caught up in working or never having enough thereforelife, its wonders, and satisfaction are difficult to obtain.As he states in the beginning (pg4), most men even in thiscomparatively free country, though mere ignorance and mistake,are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluouslycoarse labors of life that is finer fruits cannot be plucked bythem. This to me means that people care more(prenominal) about the finethings in life and easier work instead of natures gifts andhard work. Thoreau draws a parallel between otherspre occupation wit h money and his let enjoyment ofnon-monetary wealth. Thoreaus statement A man is generous in proportionto the number of things he can afford to leave alone means that richrefers to having the opportunity for spiritual and intellectual gainsand afford refers to the self-actualization rather than to cash in thebank. Those are just some of the materialistic terms that Thoreau usesto refer to non-materialist values, making summercater of the capitalist in theprocess.Thoreau uses the opportunity of the first chapter to discussthe issue of how we spend our time and energies. It is obviousthat his townspeople are not as economical as they spend manyhours working very hard to accomplish very little, showing afalse sense of economy. Thoreau believed that all attempts toredeem mankind from its problems were unreal unless suchattempts began with the person. The individual person had tostop thinking more about the lesson nature had to offer.Thoreau thought that by livin g simply with few needs ormaterial possessions man would have more time to enjoy life toits fullest natural potential. In the other chapters of thebook Thoreau goes on to tell about his experiences with naturewhile living on Walden Pond. The bean field which he grew, andput so much work into. He did not know himself what the meaningwas of put the garden only that he felt self-respect fromdoing so. They attached him to the earth. And he gotstrength from it.