From Walden Analysis

Summary After pretending to own many of the farms in a village, Thoreau builds a cabin in the woods and lives there for two years He reflects and becomes very attuned to nature He recorded his experiences in a journal that he later turned into a book

Questions Why did Thoreau decide to live in the woods?

Questions Why did Thoreau decide to live in the woods? Thoreau decided to live simply in the woods for two years to discover what life was truly about Transcendentalists believed that through nature one returned to reason and faith Through nature one can literally transcend and become closer to God

Questions What did he discover?

Questions What did he discover? He felt that we all must get rid of superfluous materials and live unencumbered by worries of material gain

Explain the following Quote: “It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.”

Explain the following Quote: “It makes but little difference whether you are committed to a farm or the county jail.” There is no difference owning a farm or being in jail because both weighs a person down. The farm confines a person financially and the jail confines a person physically.

Explain the following Quote: “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close”

Explain the following Quote: “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close” Marrow makes blood He wants to get down to the bare bones of life and see what it truly means to live He wants to simplify his life and discover the most basic form of life and what is essential

Questions What does it mean to live deliberately?

Questions What does it mean to live deliberately? To live with intention or purpose Carpe Diem Thoreau says our lives are frittered away by detail Simplify, simplify, simplify! In what ways are our lives today more encumbered than before?

Quote Worthy He says some people worry that work won’t be done. For example, railroads won’t be built! However, if everyone stays home and minds his own business, who would need a railroad?! What aspects of today’s society are superfluous?

Fun Fact At the time Thoreau was writing the telegraph was gaining popularity In Walden Thoreau warns that the telegraph will only serve to weigh people down with useless information Through the telegraph a person in Alabama can talk to someone in New York! Thoreau asks: But what will that person in Alabama have to say to that person in New York that will be relevant? Instead people will have to create “news worthy” topics just to communicate instead of meaningful discourse Do you agree? Why or why not?

Final Thoughts “However mean your life is, meet it and live it” Everyone must live the life he is given and not be upset about it Poverty should be celebrated because a person does not have extra “stuff” weighing him or her down Thoreau ends with a metaphor comparing a bug egg to human vitality If a bug can hatch from a crusty old egg in a dead tree, then the human spirit has hope to emerge free and to reclaim our vitality