Henry David Thoreau's Overall Message

The universe is wide and no man needs to be tied down, Thoreau, believes. He advocates exploration, however, not of distant lands, but of the lands within, urging men to open pathways within them to new thoughts. Using tone, theme and metaphor for the mysterious and powerful life within a man, Thoreau both criticizes the civilized man's penchant for traveling and encourages men to explore solitude in nature as a pathway to a greater spiritual

Camus’ Siddhartha and Herman Hesse’s The Stranger have recurring experiences of solitude. Whether it be physical or mental, solitude plays a major role in allowing each protagonist reach a point of enlightenment. Through solitude, each protagonist goes through rebirth, their lowest point, and awakening, revealing things about themselves in the process. Although the two protagonists reach enlightenment in the end, the two have very different outlooks, Meursault is a reserved person who goes with the flow while Siddhartha is the opposite. The two works show that no matter what the initial outlook on life is, points of solitude are key to reaching a point of enlightenment in the end.

Henry David Thoreau once said he found it ¨wholesome to be alone,¨ devaluing the importance of human connection. He even stated that being with others was ¨wearisome and dissipating,¨ and that he never found a companion as great as solitude itself. Thoreau came to his conclusion about the unimportance of Human connection while he was ¨Isolated¨ in his cabin. However, he was never truly isolated, in fact he lived upon the land of Ralph Waldo Emerson. During this period Thoreau had numerous visitors, this lead to his misconception about the importance of human connection. His statements that undercut the importance of human connection were rather naive, as proven by the adventures of Chris Mccandless. Chris Mccandless´

In Walden, Thoreau gives his thoughts and stories on different matters, like solitude and loneliness. In it, he starts to tell us an in-depth description about the breathtaking nature and creatures. Even though this whole chapter is mostly talking about nature, he starts to get down to solitary. He is use to being alone because he lived on a prairies and people did not live close to his house. So you can say that he has no problem being by himself.

Thoreau and McCandless both preferred to be alone in life as adults. Thoreau says that “I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” (Thoreau 88). He found more happiness being alone than in the company of others. He felt like this because as stated, solidarity was better for him. In addition, he also discusses how being with even the best of people can lead to disappointment and weariness. Being with people he says is the same every day, meeting too frequently, and having good etiquette around others. He finds this tiresome and mentions how when being alone you don’t have to worry about manners. Thoreau learned that being alone is what he preferred because it leads to being happier.

Loneliness and solitude are two vastly different concepts regarding the state of isolation. Solitude can be described as the joy of being alone and a condition involving peace. However, loneliness is characterized by the spiritual and psychological pain of being alone. It is a quality that cannot be chosen or sought after as opposed to solitude. Loneliness is a state of mind and can occur due to one’s personality or occupation. Throughout Henry Thoreau’s passage, he also describes how being alone does not always correlate to a feeling of isolation. Ultimately, Thoreau’s main ideas are the benefits of seeking solitude, the difference between loneliness and solitude, and how an individual may be alone without being lonely.

We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war.” By this, Thoreau implied that his solitude is that of his mind versus actual physical solitude from society. Although to say that Thoreau lost a sense of being a human by separating himself from civilization is incorrect, one can say that until society reforms the way people interact with one another, he has no desire to rejoin society.

I love to be alone. I never found the companion that was so companionable as solitude.” Thoreau is portraying how being isolated from society can give a man or women the self independence they need to find their own individuality. In order to find ones individuality they must find freedom

Walden; Or, Life In The Woods is a self-experiment that provides an ideal opportunity to evaluate the author’s philosophy. The book is an account of Henry David Thoreau’s journey of self-discovery as he attempts to live a life of simplicity and self-reliance in the woods of Massachusetts. His exploration of his two years and two months living in a cabin near Walden Pond is considered a seminal work of early American transcendentalism. Thoreau never explicitly reveals the spiritual truth at the end of his journey. Still, a discerning Christian reader can note the main transcendental themes and ideals that Thoreau demonstrates, separating that which should be applauded from that which should be rejected.

In Thoreau’s piece “from Walden” he decides to leave civilized life and retreat into solitude alone. The way he decided to do this was to move out to the Walden pond, far away from everyone and build a cabin for himself. Thoreau believed that solitude is best achieved through nature which drove the move. Finally, after two years of living at Walden alone Thoreau decided to move back to civilized life because he “had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one”. Thoreau seems to be asserting that experiences last a lifetime. In other words each individual experience is one separate life that has been lived. Thoreau also asserts how the repetition that is daily life inspired him to move and come back from Walden. Therefore he believes that life should involve constant change and new experiences instead of the same thing over and over

In the middle of the passage he says, “If we are merely loquacious and loud talkers, then we can afford to stand very near together… but if we speak reservedly and thoughtfully, we want to be farther apart” (lines 32-34). This metaphor compares being physically close in a room with other people to being close to them on a personal level, as well as compares being physically spread apart in a room to having enough “space” to get to know their ideas. In other words, this is a metaphor that compares a real room to an intellectual one. Thoreau doesn’t care about understanding the feelings of other people and getting to know his visitors on a personal level, but rather he cares about understanding their ideas and getting some kind of intellectual gain from his visitors. This is apathetic, or indifferent due to lack of energy or concern, because Thoreau doesn’t have enough concern for his visitors to want to get to know them at

Henry Thoreau was an American essayist and philosopher. He was very famous for his writings. His most famous book is about his experience while staying on the Walden Pond. He named the book Walden. In Walden, he stated a lot of his most famous views and beliefs. His views were authentic and impactful. He believed that a person doesn’t need all the latest and fanciest technology to live an excellent life. He thinks that having enough to get by is all a person needs. Thoreau states three major beliefs in this book. He argues that sometimes it’s better to do things yourself, there are more things to experience and enjoy in the world that is free, and people are stronger than they think.

Thoreau was a die hard individualist who consciously strove to stand apart from the crowd. Thoreau’s individualism was a way of life more than it was a political outlook. His ideas on individualism have had a lasting influence on humanity, but as for Thoreau himself the way he lived his own life was more important than the manner in which he influenced the world. Thoreau developed a philosophy around his own way of living. It was in pursuit of this philosophy of life that he went to live in a secluded cabin for two years, and to make a stand in defence of individual conscience by refusing to pay taxes. He believed that if he paid his tax he would be actively supporting negro slavery and the conduct of the Mexican war. The quote by Thoreau,

To translate the text to modern English would cheapen Thoreau’s writing. In modern English the saying would sound similar to the following: I went to the solitude of the woods because I wanted to live with purpose and know on the necessary facts to life, and try to decipher the meaning to life, and not die without having lived and learned.” The understandable English translation speaks for itself. However, I believe Thoreau had a much denser meaning behind it. I think the quote would look more like this: I no longer want to wander through this life which was created for me. I want to learn about self and life the only way one can: in solitude without any distractions or conveniences. I will expound on the meaning of life, the purpose

Though ultimately hopeful for the future of humanity, Thoreau expresses disdain and concern in regard to its current state. Comparing human nature to that of the wild, Thoreau writes, “few and fewer thoughts visit each growing man from year to year, for the grove in our minds is laid waste” (). Much like the less frequent pigeons, disappearing due to the parallel decline of available forests, the unique/creative thoughts of individuals no longer have space to reside in their increasingly busy minds. The mind, forced to