Preview

Walden Argument

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
400 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Walden Argument
In the excerpt from the second chapter of Walden titled “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” Thoreau crafts an intricate argument which advocates for self-realization within every individual. The specific quote I chose from the excerpt struck me deeply as the rhetoric question that is produced at the beginning of it explains how I feel on most days as I give “so poor an account” of my day each night. Continually throughout my life, I have gone through the motions of a typical day with the structure presented by school and the homework that follows me after I leave. Furthermore, sports and volunteering are ingrained within the mix but still play a part in the structured daily cycle. As time has passed the cycle has stayed rather consistent,

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Henry David Thoreau was able to see the corruption of society and its extreme hunger for money and material goods. Thoreau sought to live a life away from a materialistic world, leading him to escape to the woods around Walden pond. Thoreau believed that society contorted one’s…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    There is a fine line between utopia and dystopia. Both work towards group prosperity, order, and self-sustenance, but the methods they use to achieve these goals make all the difference—the difference between a society that takes advantage of the individual, and one that is centered on the individual’s well-being. Though the societies of Walden Two and Anthem have similar aims, Walden Two’s benevolence and City of Anthem’s tyranny lead the two communities to take very different shapes.…

    • 415 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    His main goal with having other people read Walden seems to be to influence people to try to live, or at least give real thought too, a modest lifestyle. He argues that excess possessions not only require excess labor to purchase them, but also hints to the classic line from a favorite movie of mine, Fight Club “The things you own end up owning you”. People work hard to buy material things, then worry about them when they are not home, buy insurance to protect them, basically cause more stress than is necessary. I can see this, I have worked hard to build my DVD collection, and there are some movies in my library that I have never even watched. Maybe Thoreau was onto…

    • 690 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thoreau seemed to be a man who cared only for himself and did whatever he wanted whenever and wherever. This was obvious in his strong “individualism” shown though how little he cared for meeting “external expectations” (Wilson 151). Thoreau’s good friend, Ralph Waldo Emerson, once said that he thinks “the severity of his ideal interfered to deprive him of healthy sufficiency of human society” (qtd. in Wilson 152). This showed how Thoreau cared more for his own beliefs and values than anything else. He also showed how little he cared what society thought when he moved into a small cabin for two years, two months, and two…

    • 937 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thoreau starts his essay by condemning his fellow countrymen’s actions, or rather, inaction. They and Thoreau share similar moral beliefs, but they refuse to take any action towards them.…

    • 486 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    When Thoreau used a rhetorical question in paragraph three, it made the reader stop and think what they are doing in their lives and are they living for today or tomorrow? By doing this, he lets people into his way of life and even if his way of life is odd to people now since everything is about the future with all the new smartphones with the technology of the future, it makes people stop and think why we go through life so fast, what is the rush. “People are starved even before being hungry,” what he means…

    • 645 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Christopher Mccandless

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages

    He is most well known for his book Walden, which he wrote while living by himself in the woods on Walden Pond. His writing throughout his life 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 lastly, the relationship between the mind and body. He also developed many philosophical ideas concerning knowing oneself, living simply and deliberately, and seeking truth. During the end of his stay on the pond, he spent two weeks in the woods of Maine and it was there that he got the experience to write “Ktaadn.” Of his trip up Mount Ktaadn he wrote, “When next we awoke, the moon and stars were shining again, and there were signs of dawn in the east. I have been thus particular in order to convey some idea of a night in the woods.” Throughout his work, it is easy to sense Thoreau’s love of the nature; here he seems in awe of the night sky. Whilst in nature, Thoreau feels content and not bothered by anything around him. He is able to live simply and therefore, life’s burdens become something of no concern. Thoreau wants to live in wild nature, in the parts of land no one had touched before. His desires were infectious and it is clear that McCandless was striving to have the same experience as the philosopher. McCandless wanted to live on his own off the land. One of his friends recalled the McCandless had “Said he didn’t want to see a single person, no airplanes, no sign of civilization. He wanted to prove to himself that he could make it on his own, without anybody else’s help” (159). McCandless was striving to have an authentic experience by travelling alone away from society. Like Thoreau, McCandless felt that society was a main cause of unhappiness in most people’s lives; he felt that materialism was a definite way to prevent a person from leading a good and moral life.. Both believed too…

    • 1200 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thoreau’s values of life would, however, be possible to live by for individuals who could sustain a secluded lifestyle. People who have become malcontent with the accepted standard could benefit from living based on his philosophy, because in today’s society the media pays lip service to individualism, but does not act on it. Thoreau exclaims “devote days and nights…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For” Is the second chapter from Henry D. Thoreau’s book Walden, found on pages 81-98 originally published by Princeton University Press, 1854. This edition is the 2004 reprint of the 1971 copyright with an introduction by John Updike. The critical memoir was penned in 1845 by Henry David Thoreau as an account of a two year and two month period spent in the woods living at Walden Pond near the village of Concord, Mass. Written in observation of the times in which Thoreau lived, he masterfully describes aspects of the lives of the…

    • 9827 Words
    • 40 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Better Essays

    Compare and Contrast Essay

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Thoreau believes that a lot of the details of our daily lives are meaningless and that if people lived simpler that their lives would be happier. This means that everyone needs to enjoy even the smallest of things they come by. When people take the things they own into consideration they tend to be happier. Something a person might care about is another person, or a valuable they have had with them their entire life. Thoreau is saying to just be happy, enjoy life, and take breaks. Thoreau's opinion of change is continuous and never ending. Thoreau thinks that this is how we should live our lives. He thinks we should live our lives this way because there isn't many things people come by that they enjoy. In order to enjoy life, look at your past and see how it built you up to the present. Look back at all the things you were given and appreciate those valuables no matter how small. Belongings play a big role in someones life, in others its another person, or even an animal. What that means is that anything can brighten up a persons mood or just make them smile, even for a few minutes. Life is short, whether you think it or not, life can fly by. Why let it? Enjoy life to it’s fullest and use your full potential, you can bring joy and happiness to anyone if you put your mind to it.…

    • 1119 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The fact that would defend my assertion would be from personal experience because in order to change how you live your life or for someone to tell you what to do differently with your life you have to do that yourself. You can't change by just reading books or studying the way to life. Also from your own personal experience you can determine if yo need to stop stressing over life so much and to stop worrying.…

    • 202 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    “Follow-the-leader is not the game we’re playing here! Young lady, BE YOUR OWN MAN!” (28), this quote alone shows Thoreau pushes people to be themselves and to do what feels best for them. Thoreau is not one to condone pleasing others by changing one’s own thoughts. “I want you to be yourself-not your idea of what you think is somebody else’s idea of yourself.” (29), this reiterates Thoreau’s strong feelings against conformity for the benefits of others.…

    • 651 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Thoreau Transcendentalism

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages

    In the chapter Solitude Thoreau writes, “I have a deal of company in my house; especially in the morning, when nobody calls” (112). This quote is significant because Thoreau shows that you don't need to be indulged in people to be happy; in fact you need no one. The only person you need is yourself, of course that’s easier said than done. Thoreau seemed to not fancy people in general so for him to be happy with himself was much easier than say, a person who is very sociable.…

    • 443 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    felt a need to confirm his unity with nature. On July 4, 1845, he began his famous experiment in what he thought of as “essential” living—living simply, studying the natural world, and seeking truth within himself. On land owned by Emerson near Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau built a small cabin by Walden Pond and lived there for more than two years, writing and studying nature. Walden—a mixture of philosophy, autobiography, and meditation upon nature—is the record of Thoreau’s experiences at the pond.…

    • 565 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    They say money drives the world, however may the world be driving the money? Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817. He wrote many famous pieces, Civil Disobedience stands out for its steadfast statements and theories on the government machine. Notably where he writes “Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; and It was certainly no great virtue to obtain it” (Thoreau 231) stands out due to its factual way of explaining how the more money one has the less quality in character he/she has, Because with more money it is easier to obtain objects rather than working for them. Thoreau's statement hold true to reality in examples such as money corruption in government, making an individual's character to…

    • 781 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays