8 - Walden

Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Norton, 2008
672 pages (224)
Date completed: November 2, 2009

In a series of meticulous observations, Thoreau chronicles his years living alone in the forest on the shore of Walden Pond. I found the whole premise of this interesting...although I value my alone time, I could never build myself a home and live there alone for years. However, it's more interesting that Thoreau himself continually claims that he didn't do this to get away from people. In fact, he says exactly the opposite: he loves company, whether in the form of humans or animals.

So Thoreau is basically pretty badass. How many people do you know who are comfortable enough in their own skins to just go off and live by themselves for 2 years? And on top of it, he doesn't develop any bitterness toward the rest of humanity and doesn't preach against society.

This isn't to say that Thoreau doesn't have plenty of radical individualistic views. He is also vehemently opposed to the accumulation of material possessions (which is a great premise, but is practically impossible to relate to in this country and century. If he could resurrect himself and just walk into my (or any) dorm room, I'm pretty sure he'd be shellshocked). I really like a lot of his ideas because they're thoughtful and insightful and meant (at least on some level) to improve society as a whole.

What I love most about Thoreau, however, is his complete loyalty to his own beliefs. This crops up in his essay "Civil Disobedience" quite frequently, and to me, it's what makes Thoreau COMPLETELY outstrip Emerson when it comes to transcendentalism. Sure, Emerson's ideas were more complex at times. But Thoreau believes that if you don't like your government, then you shouldn't support it. So what does he do? He refuses to pay his poll tax, gets thrown into jail, and exalts in it! He's actually happy to be in jail because it means that he's in the society of others who are anti-government. Whereas Emerson preaches about solitude yet is this social butterfly in Concord (cough. hypocrite!), Thoreau actually practices what he preaches. So yeah.

To sum this all up...the ending of Walden makes it even more amazing. Basically, Thoreau is like, "Ok, I'm done. I learned shit. Time to move on." He moves out of the forest simply because he has "several more lives to live" (p. 217). Not because he has a particular agenda, but because he wants to explore and live as fully as he possibly can. I adore the man.