Essay on Thoreau's Journey to Find the Simple 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

Thoreau galvanizes his reader into living self-dependently and being their own individual. A few ways of living with Thoreau’s virtues are to dabble with your life, and live without

It’s the end of the school day. I finally breathe and release myself of the stress and the frustration of a normal school day. I sit on the benches outside and wait for my ride. With technology gone and no people to talk to, I just sit still. The evergreen trees gently move in some of the final gusts of the summer breeze. And as I’m looking at life’s beauty and as thoughts swim through my brain, I become frightened. Because, I have never thought of life, as a whole, so profoundly. It transforms into satisfaction. Without distractions, I sit with my thoughts and world’s alluring nature. As I relive this moment in my mind, I can’t help but think of Henry David Thoreau. How he just sometimes sat and took in everything, and absorbed everything

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

One of Thoreau’s famous quotes is, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!” This means to make ones’ life as simple as possible. He thinks that the poor are the fortunate ones since they have the least to look after and worry about while the rich have so much to look after that they do not have time for themselves. Living a simple life enables one to be free of commitment and obligations. One only has to worry about one’s self.

I found Henry David Thoreau?s ?Where I Lived, and What I Lived For? made a very convincing argument. He has many examples to support his beliefs. Thoreau stresses the importance and value of living the simplest life nature affords, which I believe is as important now as it was in his day.

     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

At the beginning of Economy, Thoreau shares some details concerning his time on Walden Pond, which we learn he stayed there for two years and two months then he went back to society. He tells us the concerns that others had upon learning of his living ‘experiment.’ Many people , he tells us, asked what he ate, if he felt lonely, or if was scared. Thoreau then goes on to write that a simplified life is preferable, and it is as if men are slaves to their possessions. He believes that men who inherited farms and houses are unfortunate. They can’t go out to the world to experience life they are stuck working the fields from when they are born to the day they die. He believes that by just living off of nature you can get everything you need, and be spiritually free. Thoreau believes that a life of luxuries hinders a person’s growth, and enslaves them. He states “The

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’s Walking is plagued by passages in which he cries out to the charms of Nature. He describes with the most exquisite sensibility some of the scenes of the wildlife or the things he sees while walking, however, he elevates us, allows us leaving aside the obligations of society and invites us to merge with it.

Final Exam Essay The word “Simplicity” is what Henry David Thoreau strongly asserted in “Walden.” He believed that the simplest of things would be more beneficial to people’s lifestyles. However, I believe that we should that we should have a combination of simple things and also some luxuries, in order to be more successful in life. There are many ways in which a luxury and something of simplicity can be very beneficial to us.

One way nature brings simplicity to life is by comforting human beings with its way of living. Thoreau, a transcendentalist, wants to live with nature as simply as he can. He asserts that living in the eye of society brings on pressure to individuals

In the “Walking” by Thoreau, he illustrates the need, “...to regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and parcel of Nature, rather than a member of society” (Thoreau 1). Similar to Emerson, Thoreau shares the belief that one should not conform to societal standards. He is encouraging that man should be courageous enough to dismiss everyday worries and troubles in order to learn the value of simplicity; the first step to doing so, is by “walking.” Thoreau describes wildness as, “...the preservation of the world” (Thoreau 17). It is in nature, in which one is, “...blessed [enough] to lose themselves” (Thoreau 3). In Thoreau’s

If you asked a hundred different people their perspective on the meaning of life, it is almost guaranteed that you would receive a hundred different responses. Theodore Roethke, one of the most influential and thought-provoking poets of the 20th century, is no different. Roethke, the stout son of a german immigrant, sought to channel the inner-spirit of notable transcendentalists such as Emerson and Thoreau, and connect the intricate worlds of nature and man in order to discover the pure and true, essence of life. Roethke’s work, however, varies in form and philosophy, offering unique and wholesome perspectives to life’s purpose. For example, “In a Dark Time” by Roethke illustrates his personal struggles with depression and coping with the