Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
The effects of modernity
The evolution of technology occurs
The effects of modernity
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: The effects of modernity
Every year our generation changes and we no longer accept the advice offered by others. In one section of Walden, Henry David Thoreau ponders the advice offered by elders, such as many people who haven’t recieved a helpful advice. Thoreau said, the echoes of today may turn out to be lies by tomorrow. In a day we have 24 hours, 86400 seconds and in that instant everything could change. We have grown and are now able to prove older people wrong. Our generation is full of new experiments and we are now able to do what they were never able to do. As Thoreau said, old deeds for old people and new deeds for new. This simply says that we have a better understanding of our things, such as technology, texting,riding a bike, and simple jobs. Meanwhile
Throughout Thoreau's “Walden”, he lays out many suggestions that some may take as significant or just senseless. Thoreau brings forth many concepts such as necessity, news, and labor which would benefit modern society. Yet, his views on isolation and moderation are unattainable in a technology-driven society. Even though the ideas that could benefit society may not be totally agreeable, the main reasoning for them are valid. Those ideas of isolation and moderation are clearly not possible in a world where people crave to be social and live to obtain any and everything they want.
Henry Thoreau uses specific rhetorical strategies in Walden to emanate his attitude towards life. With the use of many strategies Thoreau shows that life should be centered around Nature. People live their lives not ever taking a second glance of what Nature does and has done for humanity and Thoreau is trying to prove his point. Humanity owes Nature everything for without it humans would be nothing.
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
Both Thoreau and Emerson teach us, who live in a more narrowed and often polluted nature, to get rid of our false sense of control and superiority that is influenced by the contemporary trends and culture. They want us to discover our proper ethical and spiritual place in nature. We must remind ourselves now and then that we are not crucial to nature's health, yet our capacity to destroy the nature is growing and becoming more violent. The best of our human tendency, though, depends on our fostering behavior, caring and respectful relationships with the nature that provides us with so many beautiful resources. We are liable to serve the nature for it serves and cater our lives in return. That is wisdom beyond eternity.
Through all these wildly changing times, are we the people also changing? Is the generation gap a myth or can it be sustained?
When it comes to civil rights, there are two pieces of literature commonly discussed. One of these pieces is Henry David Thoreau’s persuasive lecture On the Duty of Civil Disobedience. In this work, Thoreau discusses how one must combat the government with disobedience of unjust laws and positive friction to create change. The second piece is the commonly known article Letter From a Birmingham Jail by Martin Luther King Jr. This letter covers the ways in which peaceful protest and standing up against injustice can lead to positive results. Both pieces conveyed a similar message of standing up for what is right. The strongest rhetorical methods which Thoreau uses are allusions, logos, ethos and rhetorical questions. However, King’s use of
Why do so few Americans not see all of the problems in society? Do they simply not care or are they not able to see them? With Thoreau's statement, "To be awake is to be alive", he implies that Americans have their eyes closed to these issues. They do not choose to overlook these issues but they simply pass them by because their eyes are shut. Some people are not able to grasp the concept in Thoreau's statement and find it to be foreign or subversive because it threatens the way the see the world.
When thinking about the transcendental period and/or about individuals reaching out and submerging themselves in nature, Henry David Thoreau and his book, Walden, are the first things that come to mind. Unknown to many, there are plenty of people who have braved the environment and called it their home during the past twenty years, for example: Chris McCandless and Richard Proenneke. Before diving into who the “modern Thoreaus” are, one must venture back and explore the footprint created by Henry Thoreau.
An American Author, Transcendentalist and tax resister, Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord Massachusetts, and lived there most of his life. He was opposed to many of the things that went on in our society and debated many issues in his life. Two of these major issues are , the Mexican American War and the implement of Slavery in our society. This was the reason for many of his writings include “Slavery in Massachusetts” and “Civil Disobedience” where he wrote about his principles and views against the U.S government and their involvement in the Mexican American War and the evil of Slavery. Thoreau opposed to these because they promote unjust government practices which he was strongly against.
“To a philosopher all news as it is called, is gossip, and they who edit and read it are old women over their tea” (Thoreau 908). When I first read this section I passed over it without a thought, but something reminded me of if later that day, and called me to read it again. Thoreau’s thoughts and beliefs about society in the second chapter of Walden are blatantly stated in this section.
People under the age of thirty are not dumb because time can be used more efficiently with technology in the Modern Era. The people of today do not have to read through the chapters of a book to find the answer to a question. Students in the Modern Era can get work done much quicker with the use of technology, thus giving people much more free time to play video games or spend time on iPhones. Generation Y has an advantage over the older generation because the younger generation has grown up with technology at their fingertips and learned to use the Internet and its information efficiently to solve the current problems of today by thinking critically.
I was very lucky enough to not have to work on the Saturday that I did this Walden experience so thank God for that. I put my phone on airplane mode, turned it completely off, and then left it inside my room. I obviously needed to know how to tell the time outside so I decided to put a watch on my arm to keep track of time. I was going to at first wear makeup and do my hair like I normally would, but I decided not to. The reason why is because I thought about how makeup was not that important back then and how I should be confident in being my own natural self. It was hard not to wear makeup because at first I felt very uncomfortable, but then I got used to it and actually liked it. I also was going to wear shoes, but I thought about how back then how Thoreau probably did not wear shoes. I decided to just go in my backyard because I never really go outside or spend time in my own backyard which I know is bad. I put a blanket on the grass and sat there. I also made sure to bring a fruit salad that I prepared myself. I also brought water. I also made sure to bring some stuff for me to do while I was out there so I would not get bored. I brought a book, a word search book, and a coloring book with crayons.
As we age, we are forced to make big decisions and deal with difficult issues. The issues of each generation are similar because everyone makes big decisions and deals with difficult issues. They are different because each generation has diffenrent more complex issues and how they are dealt with. In adolescence, we start dealing with issues and decisions. In young adulthood, people start to act on moral and good judgement. In middle adulthood, most people know what they want and start developing more health problems.
It is now clear that in many aspects, people of this generation are smarter than the past generations. We have modern technology that provides us a convenient way of living and access to information. With this technology, we are given the correct understanding of nature. We become much more reasonable and creative too. Therefore, I still strongly believe that we are indeed smarter than our parents and grandparents.
The interests,food, habits,slang, entertainment and also the way of thinking of the younger generation differs from the older generation. These changes are indicative of progress, unfortunately, the older generation find it hard to accept these changes that make the gap wider. They differ in the way of dressing for example, the younger generation wear jeans and stay up to date in their style unlike the older generation. As the older generation has their own style according to their age. So the older generation might find these outfits inappropriate.