John Thoreau Summary

Henry Thoreau and Chris McCandless seem very similar. At a first glance when you hear their stories they sound pretty much like the same people in different time periods. Both left normal lives to live off the land and both loved that lifestyle to death. Chris even took inspiration from thoreau and took his book, Walden, into the Alaskan bush with him. However, McCandless and Thoreau are very different in their desire to move, social interactions, and their spiritual journeys.

In many English literature classes, large amounts of time are spent reading classic books while interpreting the meaning of symbols and literary devices along the way. Being able to depict deeper meaning of Thoreau’s writing can reflect his views of human nature and society. In addition, readers understand the culture and environment in which Thoreau was brought up in. Not to mention, analyzing literature encourages individuals to think more critically about their own culture and society. Furthermore, the reader can better understand the events of a former movement through the literature produced during that time. With this being said, setting provides the historical and cultural context for characters. Equally important, it often symbolizes the emotional state of characters, especially in Thoreau’s writing, Walden.

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?

Thoreau's Civil Disobedience talks about politics, government and the issues concerning these areas today. "Government is best which governs least." This motto means that the government should not have complete power over the people. The people's opinion is what matters the most. Individualism is stressed throughout his writing. To stand up for what you believe in and not bend backwards for the government is necessary. He speaks of Slavery and the war in Mexico and how is must be put to a stop. The people are responsible for this happening. Many people opposed these things yet did nothing to change it. Allowing yourself to be a part of injustice makes you a part of the negativity. Paying taxes to a corrupt government makes you

“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.

Henry David Thoreau, born in 1817, is the author of Civil Disobedience, an essay the highlights the importance of individualism and maintaining autonomy within a society that strongly favor majority rule. In 2017, especially within the past election, this is of major significance. In his essay, Thoreau focusses on many ideas, some of the most prevalent being, standing up for what one believes is wrong, no matter the consequences, along with the idea that with the right leaders government can work.

An American Author, Transcendentalist and tax resister, Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts, and lived there most of his life.  He was opposed to many of the things that went on in our society and debated many issues in his life. Two of these major issues are , the Mexican American War and the implement of Slavery in our society. This was the reason for many of his writings include “Slavery in Massachusetts” and “Civil Disobedience” where he wrote about his principles and views against the U.S government and their involvement in the Mexican American War and the evil of Slavery. Thoreau opposed to these because they promote unjust government practices which he was strongly against.

His rhetorical devices of hypophora, parallelism, and allusion are hollow and contrived throughout the essay, and give little to no appeal. How one who is hailed as one of America’s great writers cannot put together a simple and concise argument is confounding. As Thoreau himself pointed out, “to be awake is to be alive”. However, he misses the most fundamentally obvious facet of being awake, for only then can one truly form a bond with his fellow man, and cherish some of the most essential aspects of life, the aspects of voluntary communication and harmonization with other individuals. At this point only can man consider himself truly alive, for what is life, without the influences, both positive and negative, of all those around you? Thoreau, through his own misguided experiences, has utterly failed in determining that for himself, yet claims the title of an individualist, all while attempting to pass his own collectivized view of society as all-encompassing. The hypocrisy is noted; noted and

1. Thoreau believed it was disgraceful for him to be associated with the American government because in his time he was battaling against slavery and the Mexican-American war. He was disgusted that we were delusioned about a Manifest Destiny and weren't being rational in regards to our territory.

After reading Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “The American Scholar,” I can see many similarities between his ideas and the themes of Henry David Thoreau’s writings. Thoreau embodies Emerson’s idea of the American Scholar in several ways.

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” Henry David Thoreau stood behind the fact that all change is a miracle that happens in every instant. World travel has the potential to introduce an individual to the various miracles that life has to offer through aspects like culture, scenery, and language. In fact, there is a psychological concept that goes by the name of the “Big Five.” The number five refers to the five most dominant characteristics of personality: openness, extraversion, neuroticism, conscientiousness and agreeableness. Meeting new people and exposing oneself with new culture is one of is an activity that is one of the main contributors to the openness factor of personality which in turn has a domino effect on the remaining four characteristics (“5 Ways…”). That being said, by travelling the world an individual is able to become more adventurous and well rounded.

2) “I have never declined paying the highway tax, because I am as desirous of being a good neighbor as I am of being a bad subject, and, as for supporting schools, I am doing my part to educate my fellow countrymen now.” (Paragraph 37) He makes clear the ways in which he wants to support the state and his fellow countrymen. “If a plant cannot live according to its nature, it dies, and so a man.” I think he is comparing how a plant and a man live and it is one type of an analogy.

In his expository essay Resistance to Civil Government, Henry Thoreau compares men serving in the armed forces of The United States to wooden statues and he discusses how the government has manipulated and used their men. Throughout the course of Thoreau’s essay, he challenges his reader to look beyond the superficial aspect of their country and address the issues that often go unnoticed. Thoreau dares readers to respond boldly to topics and decisions that they might consider unfair or unjust. Prompted by an instance in which he stood up for a tax that he thought was unjust, Thoreau writes a provoking, almost taunting essay in which he describes some of the abuses that the government has forced on its people.

     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

To some, adventurers like Chris McCandless are young, idealistic, and resolute people with high moral standards. They want to take everything they can out of life, and they want to experience every facet of it. However, this isn’t a view everyone shares. To others, McCandless was an irrational kid with no experience who couldn’t handle his family issues. On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau is viewed as a calm, steady, and contemplative man with a dedicated love of nature. Chris McCandless and Henry David Thoreau share many similarities, but they also have defining differences. Chris was different from Thoreau because he was running from his past whereas Thoreau wanted to go to the woods, and Chris overestimated himself whereas Thoreau was more level-headed, but they were similar in that they both didn’t believe in material objects.