Henry David Thoreau's Allusion

In Walden, Henry D. Thoreau presented a radical and controversial perspective on society that was far beyond its time. In a period where growth both economically and territorially was seen as necessary for the development of a premature country, Thoreau felt the opposite. Thoreau was a man in search of growth within himself and was not concerned with outward improvements in him or society. In the chapter entitled "economy," he argued that people were too occupied with work to truly appreciate what life has to offer. He felt the root of this obsession with work was created through the misconstrued perception that material needs were a necessity, rather than a hindrance to true happiness and the

You may be dead now, but you left a huge impact on the world and on the lives of high school and college students reading your essay Walden, for school. You spent two years at Walden Pond. Why you spent exactly that much time, why you got away from society, why you lived in a small house, will be cryptic to us. You say that this lifestyle was to avoid materialism and find yourself in nature to achieve transcendence. And, this was true in your large essay, for the most part. I began to learn from your writings (Walden, Civil disobedience), however confusing and metaphorical they are. I respect you and what you have taught society. But, you always contradict yourself. Also, I want to tell you know that in your essay of Walden you said that ‘’As you simplify live your life, the laws of the universe will be simple; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness will be weakness.’’ I agree with you but considering that in the light of these modern days it is almost impossible to keep up with simplicity even though I know that to keep up with simplicity is a good thing. like I said, it is almost impossible for our generation to live without technology, without light, and without any facilities because in today’s modern world technology is one of the most important parts of each of the individual lives. Technology is like our soul, and we (the people) can’t live

Thoreau argues that many are incapable of achieving that goal because they live in a world full of details that takes focus away from living life. Moreover, we have so much on our plates, that it takes time away from reflecting on the personal self. Throughout the excerpt, Thoreau uses metaphors to approach the obstacles faced when living life in a world where everything must be done. Thoreau states that the competition for resources create a world where we are often cruel and compete with one another. In order to achieve the goal of living life fully, Thoreau proposes solutions that allow us to find our true purpose, take inconsideration nature and

What is the overall message of Thoreau's "Solitude"? Consider the term epiphany, which is a moment of clarity and understanding. Is there such a moment in this essay? If so, what triggers it?

1. Describe the tone Thoreau establishes in paragraph 2. How does it contribute to the rhetorical effect of the paragraph?

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately…to suck the marrow out of life…and not when I came to die, discover that I have not lived.” Thoreau, Walden. Thoreau was not just a radical yet respected thinker for his time, but now as well. Thoreau has a very important lesson and idea to teach through the workings of a pen. Thoreau’s works have greatly influenced our culture for over a hundred years. Thoreau’s ideas have definitely influenced contemporary ideas, but we have also developed our own separate ideas in the past century and a half.

Accordingly, Through seeing society’s torpid and repeating state and wanting to find the purpose of life, Thoreau’s motivation was fueled by the urge to finding the purpose of life and living with simplicity.

When young adults are presented with the expectation to join society, they lose the capability to trust their own opinions and enact judgment based on their morals. The inability for young adults to understand their full potential translates to them not understanding how they can achieve their future endeavors. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a prominent Transcendentalist, flourished society’s perspective on cherishing what they have without the help of aids with his essay, “Self-Reliance.” Emerson’s essay uses the stylistic techniques of compare and contrast along with cause and effect. He contradicts society’s claims of what is deemed self-reliance and associates their views with false arguments. On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau, a widely-known philosopher, communicated his beliefs of self-reliance with his personal essay, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” Thoreau demonstrates his experience in the woods as one of the most important times in his life where he learned about life’s necessities and how to rely on himself. Both Emerson and Thoreau interpret the lack of reliance in an individual as an inhibiting factor in a young adult’s ability to achieve greateness in their introduction, development, and conclusion paragraphs.

Directions: Read “Civil Disobedience.” As you read, underline examples of Thoreau using rhetorical devices and identify and explain the devices via annotation. Answer questions 1-4 to prepare for further work with a small group. The group will work together on questions 5 through 8. Be ready to explain your answers to the whole class. Even when you’re working as a group you should be writing the answers.

Thoreau and King use many similar strategies in their writings. One uses these strategies to make their piece more effective. King 's persuasive letter to the clergyman, Letter from Birmingham Jail was far more effective than Thoreau’s Lecture On the Duty of Civil Disobedience directed towards americans ready to change things, and here is why. King’s article was more effective because he strives towards tugging on the audience 's heartstrings rather than the logical side, his repetition proved to be more effective, he has a unique organizational structure, King stays more on topic, and was more passionate about his disquisition.

From a rhetorical standpoint, what makes Thoreau’s speech effective—what strategies and rhetorical appeals emphasize his points or make his argument convincing?

Thoreau conducted his experiment to understand what it meant to lead a simple life. He wanted to grasp and live a life free of all unnecessary comforts and material attachments. He sought to understand what it meant to take hold of life on a daily basis and experience what it means to be truly alive without any of the conveniences that we take for granted. The “it” that Thoreau refers to is life. He comes to the conclusion that men in reality have no understanding of what “life” is really about or what it is to really live. In stating that men are “in a strange uncertainty about it…”, Thoreau reiterates his conviction that men lead lives on a day-to-day basis and accept good fortune and misfortune without any comprehension of how to truly experience life. Life is rarely uniform, but has ups and downs and is interspersed with evil and good. This uncertainty about our daily lives can lead men to question their circumstances. Depending on their state of mind and their convictions, men attempt to rationalize these uncertainties. Thoreau states that although men

     Henry David Thoreau was man of simplicity, and if he were to experience life in Cary, he would not only be surprised, but disappointed in humanity itself. Thoreau believed in the necessities of life, nothing more, and the people of Cary live lives exactly the opposite. Cary residents live lives of material possessions, business, and over-complexity. These traits of society are precisely opposite of Thoreau’s

For Thoreau, the escape from society was a way to deeply learn about himself and human nature. He writes, “Every morning was a cheerful invitation to make my life of equal simplicity, and I may say innocence, with Nature herself” (Thoreau 72). This simple way of life allowed Thoreau to analyze himself and tendencies within society. He explains the effects of this solitary life on a person: “In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness” (253). Thoreau was able to discover flaws in society. He states, “... men establish and conform their daily life of routine and habit every where, which still is built on purely illusory foundations” (78). Unlike Hester and Sethe, the societal norms Thoreau experiences are not painful punishments or dehumanizing treatment. However, the “opinion, and prejudice, and tradition, and delusion, and appearance, that alluvion which covers the globe … through poetry, philosophy and religion” (80), can still have a profound and often negative effect on individuals and society as a whole. Thoreau is able to overcome these societal norms because he separates himself from them. Thoreau explains of humankind, “When we are unhurried and wise, we perceive that only great and worthy things have any permanent and absolute existence,-that petty fears and petty pleasures are but the

Like ancient philosophers, communitarians find the lack of unified purpose and direction in society to be a crucial problem. Those who speak of the joys of not associating with others, but of being left alone by them, are most closely associated with individualism. And their noteworthy spokesperson is author and abolitionist Henry David Thoreau. This early author, observing the pressures, expectations, and demands made upon us by the societies in which we live, concluded that “the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation” (Scott, 51).