Henry David Thoreau Research Paper

A man ahead of his time, Henry David Thoreau voices many modernly applicable opinions in Walden and Other Writings. Similar to Thoreau’s idea about the news, advice from previous times can often also apply to current events: “If you are acquainted with the principle, what do you care for a myriad instances and applications?” (Thoreau 184). Modern society today has shifted from the world of Thoreau’s time yet his ideas maintain their relevance. It would do modern society good to heed Thoreau’s advice concerning simplicity, intelligence, and company. An exalted example of simplicity, Thoreau preaches practice of his own lifestyle: simplicity. During his stay at Walden Pond, Henry David Thoreau cuts out the unnecessary elements of his life: “I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb nail” (Thoreau 182). People today do exactly the opposite and engage in superfluous activities. How many people now would function more efficiently if they simply got

Thoreau instructs us that we “must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aids, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn, which does not forsake us in our soundest sleep” (Thoreau 181). Awake in this sense means educated, rather than focused solely on labor. Those people who labor day in and day out need not concern themselves with progress in intellectual fields. Too often, the youth becomes apathetic toward the world which they will soon inherit. Some credit may be given to the elders of society who look down upon the youth and ignore their ideas and opinions due to the youth’s supposed naiveté. Rather than take apprentices and teach the younger generation important lessons, the elderly oftentimes scorn their subordinates. Perhaps the young of the world would be more attuned to learning if only they were taught to