Perception as a Defining Factor in Our Lives

In “Walden”, Thoreau talks about his experience living at Walden pond for what he said was two years, two months and two days where he for the most part, isolated himself from civilization and supported himself with the help of no one else.

We can’t live without nature. It’s our home and way of life. Henry David Thoreau wrote a piece about Walden Pond in the springtime. Thoreau discusses how nature has so much to offer. His use of anaphora, diction, and imagery helps to show not only his love for nature, but the impact it has on us.

In Walden Henry David Thoreau went to the woods as an experiment to test himself and how he could live without modern technology, while Chris McCandless went for more complicated reasons. Thoreau believed that in order for him to fulfill and bring purpose to his life that he needed to go and live in the woods. He wanted to live a life that was simple and not “frittered away by details” (Thoreau 59) One of Thoreau’s main reasons for going to the woods to be able to think, not to get away from people. He would still allow people to engage in conversation with him but would spend most of his time alone. While in the woods Thoreau would sit for hours and just think. His goal was to learn not only more about himself but about the world around him. Thoreau sometimes sat in his doorway from sunrise till noon some summer mornings just thinking, listening and observing. Thoreau also went to the woods to live deliberately. He wished to only face the most essential facts of life and live simply. He believed that people should live simply

A Comparison of Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Beliefs concerning Simplicity, the Value and Potential of Our Soul, and Our Imagination.Henry David Thoreau tests Ralph Waldo Emerson’s ideas about nature by living at Walden Pond, where he discovers that simplicity in physical aspects brings deepness to our mind, our soul to its fullest potential, and our imagination to be uplifted to change our lives. These two men believe that nature is what forces us not to depend on others’ ideas but to develop our own. Nature is ever changing so we must keep searching for explanations about human life. They feel that nature is the key to knowing all.Thoreau lives at Walden Pond to find the true meaning of life. He wants to experience

In this passage from Walden by Thoreau, the author articulates beautifully how he lives his life, why, and how he has adapted to his new home. Thoreau wishes to live a more free life where he can write and live void of responsibility, he wants to get the most from the remainder of his life by determining what is truly important, and he did this by removing himself as best he could from the normal life of Concord, Massachusetts in the 1840's to a decrepit cabin in the woods. Part of this was economic: he reduced his material needs by living in a simpler way, so that he would not have to spend much time supporting a lifestyle that he did not need

Throughout the essay, he uses his personal experiences to convey his thoughts on the practice of dumpster diving. Eighner uses this device to show the life lessons he has learned during this period in his life. He also uses it to explain to the general public that the mess which they associate with dumpster divers is not always the case. Eighner explains that there are two types of dumpster divers: polite rummagers who go through carefully, picking out what they want and leaving the rest for anyone else to use and can scroungers. Can scroungers, as Eighner explains, are usually drug addicts who dig recklessly, ruining the contents of dumpsters, and take only cans. By using his personal experiences, Eighner carefully explains that not all dumpster divers are bad, while also describing some of his personal hardships. This device was used successfully by Eighner to help get his point across to his

Walden, by Henry David Thoreau describes the events and the thoughts that came to Thoreau all through his time living at Walden Pond in the eighteenth century. Henry David Thoreau was a poet and a theorist who experienced a life of ease so that he could create a relationship between nature, people, and God. His narrative in Walden depicted many themes, for example the significance of the natural world, the implication of development, the meaning of detail, and the connection between the body and mind. He also urbanized many theoretical ideas about living a simple and natural life, and

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

Again in Walden, Thoreau wrote, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately” [1854]. It is quite strange that Thoreau had chosen to live in woods purposely. Perhaps one reason can be that he is a transcendentalist but one must not forget that he had discovered about the Walden Pond when he was deliberately living in the woods. However, another possible explanation can be that woods are not dominated or are controlled by anyone, nature lives freely in world. Therefore, a reader can

The autobiography “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau is a first-person narrative explaining what Thoreau personally experienced from his experiment after two years of living at Walden Pond, encompassed by nature. Thoreau isolates himself from society and martial earnings to gain a higher understanding of what it means to have freedom as an individual. He simplifies his life to get closer to nature to learn more about himself and society. If we focus too much on obtaining these so-called comforts of life. We blur the fact that these luxuries are a hindrance to self-freedom. In society, if you do not follow the same rhythm as everyone else. You will be seen as an out casting in the community. That is not freedom

The majority of Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, concerns the idea of opting out of society. In his chapter “Solitude” Thoreau describes how “[his] horizon bounded by woods all to [himself]” (111) is beautiful and belongs solely to him. As he is enjoying nature Thoreau states, “There can be no very black melancholy to him who lives in the midst of Nature” (111). Thoreau’s theme of being alone and appreciating nature is found throughout his book to such an extent that one can conclude that he believes the best way to live is without society. Thoreau cannot stand to pay his taxes because he refuses to, “recognize the authority of, the state which buys and sells men, women, and children” (145).

    “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” illustrates the philosophical thinking of Henry David Thoreau during his time at Walden Pond. Thoreau’s goal was to “front only the essential facts of live” and “live deliberately”. His essay is often revered for the self-sufficient and individualistic thinking that he brought to his readers, but despite all the reverence, such principles could tear apart a community. Although the essay was written in the 1850s, many of his arguments for self-sufficiency and individualism hold true today.

Perception is defined as how you look at others and the world around you. Being able to select, organize and intercept information starts the perceptual process. Perception affects the way people communicate with others. An individual’s pattern of thinking can affect their perception of others. Most people communicate best with people of similar cultures.

As a background, Thoreau had lived alone in the woods by Walden Pond for two years and two months, in Concord, Massachusetts. A lot of people had asked him how his daily life was when he was there, and this book, Walden, is an attempt to answer that question. In his writing, he uses the first person view which he states that he knows his self best and aims to give a what he call a “simple and sincere account of his own life.” When Thoreau removed himself from society and chose solitude at Walden Pond and wrote this book is a proof of which he can communicate his ideas well to the readers.