Walden Essay

Two years, two months, and two days; that is how long Henry David Thoreau, a transcendentalist, who ventured to live by Walden Pond to declare independence from the gradually progressing society, and to experiment with self reliance on noble well beings.  Through this, he resulted in cataloging the indigenous plants and isolated himself from society to gain a biased understanding of the growing world.  He lived simply and self sufficiently, and his purpose of this experiment was to give himself the understanding of day to day growth in society and the effects on the world and life.  However, he also grew spiritually, realizing what life really had to offer. "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Walden,490).  Although many people would have thought his actions were preposterous, living completely secluded from society, his individualizations categorized the new change of beliefs that greatly influenced the future of many others today.

Through Thoreau’s two year stay at Walden Pond, his life was strictly limited.  His simplicity shows that the only necessities in life were food, water, fuel, and shelter and left every other luxury as unnecessary.  He souly discovered that in life, humans crave “better” equipment and technology every day, while in reality, the only necessities are those four main things.  This discovery shows society that the expansion is what people desire, progress and technology have grown this new society, but does society indeed need it to function? No, but through the self dependency humans have given and fed this growth is what ails the conflict of whether people feel the need to live such a complicated life.  The simplicity Thoreau showed through his stay at Walden Pond has allowed the ideas of simplistic living thrive through many social groups and have given people a wider view of the world in today’s society.

Thoreau based his spiritual growth from his isolation on the progress of society, through understanding the effects of technology and manufacturing.  The progress of today, even though the average person generally will never realize it, has had negative effects on nature and the world.  Manufacturing poisons fresh water supplies and trash litters the once green earth.  Today, new technological devices come out every day, having an impact on how much of a complicated life is lived, as well as damaging the environment.  Through Thoreau’s writing, he illustrates his views on this change, and catalogued the plants around Walden Pond.  Global Warming has effected these plants, and today scientists use his information to show the true damages and affects Global Warming has on the world, even in a forest near Concord, Massachussetts.  He challenges today’s advances to the greater good, showing that the world, the environment, and nature is effected harshly by technology and manufacturing, and started the ideas of the Green Earth Movement.  Now, society has a better grasp of how manufacturing does affect our lives, even though it may not seem like it effects everyone individually.  Recycling, planting trees, and cleaning the environment have driven through lives across the world, and through the writings of Thoreau, the understanding of the simply beautiful world that lies beneath the feet of humanity has been understood and welcomed into the lives of those who live in this new millenium every day.

Henry David Thoreau spent only two years, two months, and two days at Walden Pond.  Through his writings he conducted while living there, today everyone has a better understanding of the world around them.  He opened up the door that had been blocked by the manufacturing movement era, and opened society’s eyes to how a simpler and easier life everyone could live.  The luxury items society craves, the technology it adores, and the filth it leaves behind that cannot be taken away is unnecessary for the survival of humanity.  This new awakening has effected lives all over the world, and the writings of Henry David Thoreau are existential to the new green technology and the beliefs in society of today, a hundred and sixty-six years since his actual stay at Walden Pond.