Hello everybody-
Sorry to be posting this so late. Please bear with me- im having some computer usage problems. Thanks!
Before I commence to talking about "Where I lived and What I lived For" I think it is important to talk about Henry David Thoreau himself. As we talked about in class today, Thoreau is almost Emerson's counterpart in his ideas of society. Whereas Emerson does put a heavy accent on the individual, he does not believe in completely rejecting society. This is cleary seen even in his personal life, as an industrious writer, publishing multiple works. He uses an epigraph from Honest Man's Fortune" to demonstrate that societal influince is perhaps- inevitable. The epigraph states "Command all light, command all influence," establishing this important point. (Beaumont & Fletcher).
What is the counterpart to this societal influince?
The answer of course must be isolation-
and Thoreau demonstrates this through the fact that he completely removes himself from society. For some period of the American author's life, he lived in the woods as to prevent himself from conforming to society.
His attitude is one in which "government is best [when it} governs least" (713). Thoreau analyzes society by brigning up an important rhetorical question. "The American government, - what is it but a tradition?" Is society based soley on tradition? And if so, where does this fit in with the individual?
Thoreau's ideas on society are extremely clear. He relates it to a weapon, demonstrating that societal influince is what wounds the individual. He says "It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves; and if they should use it in earnest as a real one against each other, it will surely split."
An important note to think about is that in this essay, Thoreau contemplates the meaning of life- but in simple terms. The "ordinary" everyday life.Throughout his essay, Thoreau puts emphasis on his simple everyday activities, such as reading books. What does this say about the meaning of life itself? Through analyzing the simplicity of everyday activities, Thoreau poses an important point: "That man who does not believe that each day contains an earlier, more sacred, and auroral hour than he has yet profaned, has despaired life, and is pursuing a descending and darkening way."
Thoreau is a very intriguing man. He is able to find simpicity in things that are very complex. This is what sets him apart from most writers. The fact that he can write a book "so profoundly liberating that from the reading of it men and women would date new eras in their lives" (711). By him choosing to live in seclusion, he is not only choosing isolation, but the difficulties of overcoming it. His view on life, "Renew thyself completely each day; do it again, and again, and forever again" (774) is a great way to live. Stay true to the individual and live life to the fullest no matter what. He is able to send that message to his readers through the idea of nature and isolation and he does it in the most simplistic way.
ReplyDeleteThoreau's analyzing of very methodical, everyday activities seems to highlight how fascinated Thoreau was with just about everything! He was considered a "social philospher...naturalist...major American voice...high literary ranking" as well as many other roles (712). His many roles in society seem to contribute to his writing and the broad topics he covers.
ReplyDeleteHis apparant fascination with the world around him is illuminated further in his essay "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For". In this essay Thoreau discusses how he deems the world as a blank canvas, all the world his to decide upon where to live. It seems that with this idea in mind, of having endless possibilites to his home he gained a "respect to landscapes" or more precisely an appreciation for American Landscape (771).
This appreciation was most likely rooted in his period of time living in the woods with Emerson. He make "simple observations of nature" that would help to form his writing of the natural world in the future (709). Thoreau's constant awareness of his surroundings is what seems to have given his literary works the little push to "exalt him to literary ranks higher than Emerson's" (712).
P.S. to my first response:
ReplyDeleteI found a quote that further displays how versatile a man Thoreau was (as I discussed in my first paragraph)...
"The bulk of the small book, however, consists of numerous essays, spliced in hit or miss, on a variety of topics such as rivers, fish and fishing, fables, Christianity, poetry, reading, writing, reformers, Oriental scriptures, canal boats, Anacreon, quackery, pedestrian travel, Persuis, the distinction between art and nature, the Conford Cattle Show, Ossian, and Chaucer. The longest essay is on friendship" (710).
So Thoreau is not just interested in everything under the sun, but he writes about it all too! From quackery (which is the practice of fradulant/deceptive medical practices) to friendship. This says, for Thoreau, that the meaning of life is everything in life. The meaning of life is to be intruiged by anything and everything and not write something off, but study it further.
Interestingly Thoreau discusses the difficulties of solitude. It is not easy to seclude oneself from society, to completely abandon the "normal" way of living in order to enhance not only as a writer, but as a human being as well. It is difficult to abandon society, however once completed Thoreau shows the benefits of solitude. Similarly to what we discussed about "Self- Reliance" in class today, Thoreau too stresses the importance of searching in oneself for answers, relying on the self, rather than making others think for him/her.
ReplyDeleteThoreau states: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived". Thoreau secluded himself in the woods in order to escape the distractions of society, and focus on himself. He discovered that when he was conforming with society he was merely a "body" lacking a mind, to think for itself, and lacking a heart, to feel for itself. Through Thoreau's adventures in Emerson's backyard, he enters a state of self discovery and subsequently enhances tremendously.
The idea of simplifying things that Thoreau talks about, at least for me, seems to embody a sense of finding things out about yourself. "Then there is least somnolence in us, and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night" (775). This awakening he describes come simply putting some time aside to be yourself, not necessarily all your time like he did. Through this simple exercise a more true self can be found. But it seems as though Thoreau can fear things being overly simple when he says, "We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids..." (775). He understands over-simplification can make the awareness of a person's own self softer rather then stronger.
ReplyDeleteThoreau almost seems to be remarking on the heros journey. He breaks free of the "mechanics" of man, and crosses the threshold into the unkown, in which he must rely on himself. But this isnt to say that he doesnt return to society. When he returns to society, he comes with a gift- the ability to examine society with a new perspective, and share his views with the industrial world by publishing works such as "Walden."
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