Immortal Literary Combat: Against Nature vs. Thoreau

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

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

“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.

He has deeper thoughts. Like Emerson, Thoreau also wanted to live a simple life, in order to find deeper meaning in life.

Thoreau discusses the issue of how we spend our time and energies. It is obvious that his townspeople are not as economical as they spend many hours working very hard to accomplish very little, showing a false sense of economy. Thoreau believed that all attempts to redeem mankind form its problems were

Thoreau's sojourn in the wild

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

Thoreau wished to open the minds of many revealing the importance of nature “Let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature, and not be thrown off the track by every nutshell and mosquito's wing that falls on the rails” (Thoreau II). In the quote, Thoreau discusses how he learned to live deliberately in nature encouraging other members of society to do the same. He has learned that it can lead to harmonization with oneself, to

Within “Life without Principle”, Thoreau asks readers to oppose the way they think and live. Topics range from Local Township to governmental society—he suggests his own philosophical opinion on just about every aspect of life. He offers a different perspective on life—a perspective which must have stunned the people of his time. In his time, these ideas of self-prospect were unheard of. However broad these ideas are, one concentrates on his ideals of labor.

He asserts his dislike for the corruptions and burdens of society numerous times thorughout the novel, thus affirming his admiration for the purness of nature. A connection transpires as Thoreau details the sounds of nature as he believes he can never get bored when he has the company of nature. As an intelligent man he can thoroughly obsserve and enjoy the beauty of nature, essentially becoming a part of it. He personisfies nature, as well, when stating, "the natural day is very calm, and will hardly reprove his indolence" (Walden, 56). This personification demonstrates nature with the human quailty of understanding of forgivness, therefore, empasizing the connection between nature and himself becuase nature and man are reacting to each

Walden by Henry David Thoreau is the result of his time spent at Walden cabin from July 1845 to September 1847, with the goal of simple living and self- sufficiency, attained through introspection and immersion in nature. He presents his writing in first person, explaining “I should not talk so much about myself if there were anybody else whom I knew as well” (3). Thoreau, an empirical holist, puts emphasis on the minimalist lifestyle he lives secluded in the woods, only attaining things “necessary of life” which he names as food, shelter, clothing and fuel (12). This is contrasted to the criticism he invokes upon people who live in society and devote their lives to the attainment of material happiness. However,

Henry David Thoreau has long been one of the most respected and honored writers in all of American literature. For his transcendental ideologies that we see through many of his works, such as “Walden”, he has been idealized by millions even years after his death in 1862. However is this title deserved? As described by many Thoreau critics, he was a very conceited, hypocritical, and egotistical individual who had little respect or empathy for humanity. On the other hand, those in praise of Thoreau describe how his writing was unparalleled in terms description and understanding. It is clear through analyzing his writings and expert opinions written about him that Henry David Thoreau was an egotistical and hypocritical person however is also one of the most influential writers in American History, due to his use of detail and his ability to see deeper meanings, whose works should be remembered and honored rather than his character.

Henry David Thoreau was a nineteenth century American author who lived during the height of Transcendentalism. He became an important contributor to this movement (“H. D. T.” Poetry Foundation). Thoreau received much information about this movement from Emerson, a noteworthy friend of Thoreau. Thoreau wrote many significant works in American literature, including Walden and “Civil Disobedience.” The works of Henry David Thoreau were strongly influenced by the Transcendentalist movement and centered around his stay at Walden Pond.

He wrote a book called Walden that narrated his two year stay in the woods without any human contact or support. Thoreau's views was engaged around the fact that nature holds all truth, and people can only attempt to find that truth when he or she is fully wrapped up in nature. This is the reason he stayed for two years by himself in the woods. However, the transcendentalists were also partial romantics, who were wanderers that could never find what they were looking for. He was searching for full truth, but he never found an answer.