Henry David Thoreau 's On Living The Good Life

I am sitting in my family’s living room, idly. Something that is a rarity for me now. There are not many thoughts going through my head, in stark contrast to nowadays. I am arguing with my older brother to switch the channel to something relatively interesting and, more importantly, something my siblings and I can collectively agree upon, without having our parents to tell us to keep quiet. We eventually come to an agreement, a reluctant one, due to our older brother using the role of the eldest sibling to his advantage, on the science channel. It is showing a documentary of sorts on the expanding vastness of space being discovered due to ever improving technology.

Henry Thoreau loved the simplicity of living in the wilderness, just as much as McCandless did, however he loved just to stay put. Thoreau wanted to uncage himself from the outside world and the interferences it had with him living a “full” life. Thoreau thought

Both Henry David Thoreau and Christopher McCandless ventured out into the woods to get away from the dreariness of everyday society and to find themselves. Only one lived to tell the tale. What was the fatal flaw of the man who didn’t continue on? The only way to find this is to analyze the differences and similarities between the two. McCandless, while embracing some of the same values as Thoreau, was ultimately a different man. While they led very contrasting lives in very distant times, both McCandless and Thoreau sought a type of freedom that can only be achieved when immersed in nature. Thoreau’s entitlement and cozy cabin in the woods is a far cry from McCandless’s constant struggle during his expedition, however, certain parallels

The essay by Henry David Thoreau, “Where I lived and What I Lived For” tells Thoreau beliefs of how society should live. He asks deep questions such as, “Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?” to encourage the reader to contemplate their lives and values. He said, “Our life is frittered away by detail.” and goes on to emphasize the value of, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” Thoreau states simplicity and self sufficiency are virtues society should live by; however, they potentially jeopardize the community and are consequently not viable today.

Henry David Thoreau was a great American writer, philosopher, and naturalist of the 1800’s who’s writings have influenced many famous leaders in the 20th century, as well as in his own lifetime. Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts in 1817, where he was later educated at Harvard University. Thoreau was a transcendentalist writer, which means that he believed that intuition and the individual conscience “transcend” experience and are better guides to truth than are the senses and logical reason (Prentice Hall 1174). Thoreau is well known for writing Walden Pond, Excursions, The Maine Woods, Cape Cod, and A Yankee in Canada. In 1849 Henry David Thoreau wrote an essay

Before moving to Walden Pond, Thoreau was surrounded by a civilization that had an obsession with money and political power, things he greatly despised. So, to march to the beat of his own drum, he went on a mission to live a purposeful life instead of a hastened one. Thoreau lived with the notion that if you don’t like the life society gave you, then you should go off and create your own. And that’s what McCandless decided to do with his own life. McCandless was practically disgusted with the life his parents were living; they had no purpose or passion and were only “happy” because of their wealthy and comfortable lifestyle. This was the opposite of what he believed in. To McCandless and Thoreau, material things and status

A significant philosopher of the pre-Civil War era of the United States, Henry David Thoreau appeared to be above the standard with his philosophically driven life style. He wrote detailed accounts of his life in his book titled Walden, in which he expressed his desire to escape the confining pressures of human society. His second chapter lauded the concepts of individualism and self-sufficiency, yet he never took into account the potential harm of his mentality, for it could hurt individuals as well as communities, and modern life simply cannot support his ideals.

Henry David Thoreau's life began on July 12, 1817 in Concord, Massachusetts. At a young age he began to show an interest in writing. In 1833, at the age of sixteen, Thoreau was accepted to Harvard University. Although his parents could not afford the cost of tuition, his family offered to help with the funds, and in August he entered Harvard. In 1837 he graduated and applied for a teaching position at a public school in Concord. However, he refused to flog children as punishment. He choose instead to deliver moral lectures. The community looked down upon this, and a committee was asked to review the situation. They decided that the lectures were not ample punishment, so they ordered Thoreau to

He lived simple and plain. So simple and plain in fact, that he even chose to leave society and almost become a hermit. In his piece, Walden, or a Life in the Woods, he has chosen to build his own shelter. “I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long...The exact cost of my house, paying the usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work, all of which was done by myself was in all $28.00” (Thoreau 236). Throughout the passage, Henry also tells about the patches he plants for food. This is complete and total self reliance. You are on your own for food, water and shelter, and Thoreau pulls it off with little hastle. He even claims to have “done better than any farmer in Concord that year...” (Thoreau 163). Thoreau has proven to himself and society that he can be independent, in growing and catching his own food, and building his own

The summer of 1845 found Henry David Thoreau living in a rude shack on the banks of Walden Pond. The actual property was owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the great American philosopher. Emerson had earlier published the treatise entitled "Nature," and the young Thoreau was profoundly affected by its call for individuality and self-reliance. Thoreau planted a small garden, took pen and paper, and began to record the of life at Walden.

Like Emerson, Henry David Thoreau also contributed to the creation of unique America with the belief in anti-consumerist. Thoreau was also the transcendentalist, who was a student and friend of Emerson and he was born on 12th July, 1817. Thoreau’s writing, “Walden” represented a clear identity and it was a challenge to American materialism and ideas of progress. The reformer and writer, Lydia Maria stated that, “The life exhibited in (Thoreau’s books) teaches us that this western activity of which we are so proud, these material improvements, this commercial enterprise, this rapid accumulation of wealth, even our external associated philanthropic action, are very easily

Even though Henry David Thoreau is one of the most famous writer in the New England Renaissance period, and his book Walden is the most iconic work of the period that many believe in his value of life, but in my opinion I hold a totally opposite view to his value of life. From this quote “Think I shall not buy greedily, but go around and around it as long as I live.” It expresses the idea that people should admire what they believed it’s beautiful and valuable without purchasing it. It will show its flaw if put in a real world situation, suppose somebody went to a book store and found a book that he really favors, if following Thoreau’s value of life, the man should come to the book store every day to read the book without buying it, which

Henry David Thoreau was a major figure in the transcendentalist movement. He was born in Concord, Massachusetts on July 12, 1817 (“Henry David Thoreau” biography.co). Richard J. Schneider’s article, “Thoreau's Life” reveals that he went to public school in Concord, then attended Concord Academy. Thoreau was somewhat different than other children in Concord. “As a child he rarely followed the rules and was independent and strong-willed” (Brozo, et al. 377). Being independent as a child shows up very clearly in Thoreau’s adult life. Later Schneider states that Thoreau went to Harvard College and graduated in the top of his class. However, he had to graduate early because he was very ill and not financially able to continue. Thoreau worked at many places throughout the years. He taught at a school, worked at his family’s pencil factory, and opened a school with his brother (Schneider). He even worked as a land surveyor (Witherell and Dubrulle). Thoreau was friends with a great transcendentalist writer, Ralph Waldo Emerson. Thoreau spent two years living at a place called Walden Pond, which was property of Emerson (“Henry David Thoreau” biography.com). As stated in the biography, “Henry David Thoreau,” “He experimented with working as little as possible rather than engage in the pattern of six days on with one day off.” This may seem like a lazy way of living, but to Thoreau it was something more. “He felt that this new approach helped him avoid the misery he saw around him” (“Henry David”). The hardship that Thoreau was feeling from the world was the public. The public admired technology and did not appreciate nature like he did. Henry

Henry David Thoreau Walden is a series of topics, which discuss on how to live a meaningful life. In the first chapter named Economy, he talks about the benefits of having a simple lifestyle and that luxury good are the main suppressor of humanity. I personally do not believe in his idea of an economy, because I do not believe in that running away from civilization and living alone would better for us.

This year I have noticed our theme recurring throughout the year in our many stories. The pursuit of happiness stood out to me in Thoreau’s literature. Especially when he said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and not see if I could learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” To me, this shows that the pursuit of happiness is different for everyone. Thoreau wanted to live deliberately, he wanted to learn all that he could, so that when it came his time, he wouldn't have gone his whole life to find out that he never really lived. Thoreau found his happiness in the simplest things in life.