Thoreau

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Recommended: Thoreau's opinions on nature and society

1. Thoreau sees men living their lives in where they are unable to enjoy every parts of their lives. Deemed a misfortune, men suffer through having to work on the land that they have inherited. There is no chance of getting rid of the land as easily as it was to obtain the land. Unfortunately, “the laboring man has not leisure for a true integrity day by day” because “he has no time to be any thing but a machine (Thoreau 7). These men constantly labor over mindless tasks to uphold and upkeep their inherited properties that they lack the time to be able to have relationships with other people. The men are essentially trapped in a world of labor and unnecessary worries because if they spent time away from the farm to enjoy life, “[their] labor would be depreciated in the market” (Thoreau 7). Thoreau does not like to see these men in a inescapable world where they can not enjoy what life has to offer to them. The finer fruits are unable to be picked by these men because they can only be handled delicately and “[these men] do not treat [them]selves nor one another thus tenderly” (Thoreau 7). These men do not posses the delicacy to be able to pick these fruits because they are constantly working in a field that requires rough labor.

2. Thoreau believes that the basis for the success of any person is to be able to not be live live like the “mass of men [that] lead lives of quiet desperation” because “it is a characteristic of wisdom not to do desperate things” (Thoreau 8-9). A person’s demise is based on that person’s own opinion of themselves which in turn determines the path of their life. To be able to relinquish oneself from the chains of desperation and to be successful is to be “alert and healthy” (Thoreau 9). Having theses ch...

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...le experience, if [one] live[s] simply and wisely” (Thoreau 51). Thoreau believes that living without the items that are unnecessary prove to lead to an enjoyable life. Thoreau believes that one can live an enjoyable life by being wise and living a simple one. Thoreau is a believer in not spending unnecessarily on items that are unneeded. For his furniture, “part of which [he] makes himself…cost[s] him nothing” (Thoreau 48). This idea is essentially how Thoreau feels a good life should be spent. Thoreau only needs to work “about six weeks in a year [to] meet all the expenses of living” (Thoreau 50). By being able to not buy items that are not pertinent to life and frivolously spending, Thoreau is able to be “free and clear for study” (Thoreau 50). Thoreau was living simply and wisely which made living not difficult for Thoreau, but enjoyable.

8. Thoreau mean that

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