Thoreau's Journey to Walden
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Henry David Thoreau, in Walden, states that "I do not propose to write an ode to dejection, but to brag as lustily as chanticleer in the morning, standing on his roost, if only to wake my neighbors up" (69). The fact to which Thoreau wishes to awaken his neighbors is the realization that they have become distracted and alienated from the true meaning of life. In effect, Thoreau wants Walden to operate as an extended metaphor of living according to his realizations during his two years of life in the woods. In the woods, Thoreau discovers what he believes to be the essential elements for living and, in Walden, extends the application of these elements to the whole world. He presents the drama of his own life metaphorically to demonstrate the tensions between himself, nature and town culture. Then, he attempts to offer his own original relationship as a guide to the relationship between man and man and between man and the universe. Henry David Thoreau stated that he went to live in the woods because he "wished to live deliberately" (74). This concept of living deliberately pervades Walden because it is through his attempt to live so that Thoreau comes to the realizations whose articulation form the substance of Walden. One of the greatest concerns that led Thoreau to his two years in the woods was his fear that when he died he would discover that indeed he had not lived (Thoreau 74). He stated that he wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, "t
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a different drummer. Rather than advocate that such a person change their step to keep in line, Thoreau encouraged that he "step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away" (272). Certainly, this is what Thoreau himself did by his decision to live in the woods and reflect upon himself and his place in the universe rather than attempt to pursue the trappings of a civilization that he views as almost antithetical to true self-knowledge.
Thoreau also extends the metaphor of the more basic activities in life as "the scurf of our skin" further. He argues:
Every man is the builder of a temple, called his body, to the god he worships, after a style purely his own, nor can he get off by hammering marble instead. We are all sculptors and painters, and our material is our own flesh and blood and bones (185).
Consequently, he is attempting to demonstrate that our labor only provides sustenance for our external being. We must actively seek to refine our internal selves, for this Thoreau believes is the more important and necessary work. He is arguing that we must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves constantly awake forever questioning the canvas we have created or have let others create for us (Thoreau 73).
Thoreau p
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Approximate Word count = 2107
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page)
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