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Tate Andrie

American Literature I

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Henry David Thoreau-Conclusion to Walden

            Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817, in Concord, Massachusetts. Thoreau was a naturalist, writer, individualist, and a dedicated abolitionist, being remembered for his philosophical and naturalist writings, his most notable work being Walden. After graduating from Harvard College, Thoreau befriended Ralph Waldo Emerson, a fellow writer and poet local to Concord. It is at this point that Thoreau is introduced to the Transcendentalist movement, a philosophical and social movement that focused on finding the inner spiritual or mental essence within man. Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement as a whole arguably had the greatest influence on Thoreau’s work, and Thoreau later became a leading figure in the movement along with Emerson. The influence from the Transcendentalist movement especially shines through in Walden, where “his love of nature, his rhetorical inventiveness, his humor, his philosophical adventurousness, and his everyday nonconformity” (962) emerges, reflecting a lot of what Transcendentalism is all about.

            In the concluding section of Walden, Thoreau talks about overcoming obstacles and realizing their own potential. Thoreau believes that "if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours” (1149). He then warns us, the reader, not to fall into the trap of common sense that most Americans follow, saying “Why level downward to our dullest perception always, and praise that as common-sense. The commonest sense is the sense of men asleep, which they express by snoring" (1150). Thoreau also talks about the importance of individuality and avoiding conformity, and says that we should discover our own truths to live by. To do this, he says we must “not live in this restless, nervous, bustling trivial Nineteenth Century, but stand or sit thoughtfully while it goes by” (1153).  Finally, Thoreau believes in the simple life, and to cut out any unnecessary things, as this will help lead you to the life of individuality. “It is life near the bone where it is sweetest…Superfluous wealth can buy superfluities only. Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul” (1152). Overall, the purpose of Walden is to inform the reader on how to find oneself by letting go of unnecessary needs and being their own individual, and hopefully motivate us to do so.

            Because of Henry Thoreau’s shared belief in Transcendentalism with Ralph Waldo Emerson (as well as friendship), it is obvious that Emerson’s Self Reliance and Thoreau’s Walden have a lot of similar motives and ideals, the most notable being the importance of individuality and not conforming and accepting other people’s ideas. Both writers are important figures in the Transcendentalist movement as a whole. Walden also shows how Thoreau shared a lot of beliefs that Walt Whitman, who while not technically a Transcendentalist due to location, believed in many of the same ideals. Overall, Thoreau’s Walden plays a big part in the Transcendentalist movement, and his work also greatly affected environmentalists’ John Muir and Aldo Leopold, who greatly admired Thoreau. Contemporary writers like Edward Abbey and Annie Dillard also cite his work frequently (964).

Works Cited

Thoreau, Henry D. “Walden.” Norton Anthology of American Literature, edited by Nina Baym  and Robert S. Levine, W.W. Norton & Co., 2012, pp. 961-1155