Preview

Comparing Henry David Thoreau's 'How To Create A Better World'

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1295 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Comparing Henry David Thoreau's 'How To Create A Better World'
Thoreau Taught Us How to Create a Better World, but Few Listened
Imagine what the look on 19th century writer and naturalist Henry David Thoreau's face would be if he were transported to present day America. Now, if Thoreau thought that "export[ing] ice, talk[ing] through a telegraph, and rid[ing] thirty miles an hour" was superfluous, envision what he would think of our modern society (Thoreau excerpt). He would gasp at air conditioning and refrigeration, feel faint when he saw a computer or learned of the internet, then fall over from a heart attack when he went for a ride in an airplane. Because our society has become obsessed with perfection and improvement, very few of us today follow Thoreau's teachings. We are not satisfied when something is good; it must be perfect. We have
…show more content…
We create technologies to improve our lives and make things easier. However, in our search for perfection, have we lost sight of what was perfect? Thoreau wanted us to see that we already have perfection. He wanted us to see the beauty of ourselves and of nature. All of the details and luxuries that we have become so obsessed with distract us from the true magnificence of life. We have become so caught up in the struggle to reach perfection that we never stop to question what the purpose is. That was Thoreau's biggest objection. He did not understand why we waste our time with pointless jobs and rituals just to fit in with what society has deemed as suitable. Instead of improving things around us, he believed we should think about how to improve ourselves. Thoreau wanted us to think about the consequences of working, and how it affects our happiness or our family. We work hard to make a

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Better Essays

    Henry David Thoreau’s thesis is everyone can think, but not everyone can write their thoughts down. With that being said, some of us neglect our thoughts and feelings. Therefore, some of us have trouble forming our own minds. His conclusion reinforce the main idea by the belief that we must endeavour more to improve ourselves. In addition, if we do so we are able to weigh and…

    • 724 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    The greatest gains and values are farthest from being appreciated. We easily come to doubt if they exist. We soon forgot them.” (p. 47) Thoreau believed that nature was one of life’s beautiful occurrences that many neglect to appreciate. So did Christopher McCandless. Chris went on his ‘pilgrimage’ that included California, South Dakota, and Alaska among other places, to experience the natural world for himself. He realized that others did not take advantage of the world around them, so he even convinced Ronald Franz to alter his lifestyle to “start seeing some of the great work that God has done here in the American West.” (p. 58)…

    • 408 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Henry David Thoreau was able to see the corruption of society and its extreme hunger for money and material goods. Thoreau sought to live a life away from a materialistic world, leading him to escape to the woods around Walden pond. Thoreau believed that society contorted one’s…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    03 03 Task2

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages

    6. In the fourth and fifth paragraphs you read, what are Thoreau’s views of the news and the mail? How might Thoreau have seen today’s society that is so obsessed with social media and 24 hours a day news channels?…

    • 375 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry David Thoreau decided to remove himself from his ordinary life in society, and relocated himself to an area outside the town Concord. His once typical life now became that of a forest dweller. He built himself a quaint little home near Walden Pond. He chose to approach a life of simplicity by building his own home, living in the forest gathering his own food and fending for himself in essentially all aspects of his life. Ezra Pond makes a claim that Thoreau is demonstrating his indifference to humans and traditional societies, but that is not the case. Thoreau was merely trying to demonstrate just how unnecessary most societal desires were to live a fulfilled life.…

    • 470 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In the early stages of their goals, Thoreau and Krakauer encountered a common theme. Self perfection and animosity towards those who preach perfection, but have not obtained it themselves. In his journey through Walden, Thoreau demonstrates this idea while observing other inhabitants. “Farmers are respectable and interesting in proportion that they are poor, poor farmers. A model farm! where the house stands like fungus in a muck heap, chambers for men… cleansed and uncleansed… Such is no model farm.” (Thoreau 157)In this excerpt, Thoreau addresses to the reader that farmers around the area were trying to set themselves as an example for others, in hope of making an impact towards individuals who may precede in their steps. However, their good intentions will collapse within itself in unsanitary conditions and disorganization. A similar situation would befall McCandless in his story, prior to his vanishing, McCandless…

    • 393 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Henry David Thoreau was a environmental scientist, American philosopher, and a poet. Henry David Thoreau’s work has been seen having foreshadowed central insights of later philosophical movements like pragmatism and existentialism. He was a leading figure in the Transcendentalist movement. Thoreau is on of the most Transcendentalists today because of his ecological consciousness, independence, commitment to abolitionism, his thought of peaceful resistance. His poem style and habit of close observation are still…

    • 73 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The World Book Encyclopedia covers the basics of Henry David Thoreau's life and his works. The author spends a brief two paragraphs on Thoreau's life before branching into his works, including connections throughout his works to his philosophy of Civil Disobedience and Transcendentalism. He also mentions Thoreau’s friendship with another famous transcendentalist author, Ralph Waldo Emerson, who owned the land on which Walden Pond is located. The author of the segment provides very little opinion, choosing to showcase facts about Thoreau's life instead. Due to the source being an encyclopedia and the author’s straightforwardness about the subject, it is clearly reliable and unbiased. The portion also provides a brief summary of the Romantic…

    • 169 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many can argue that our society is currently docked at one of the greatest times of its history. Being privileged with universal human rights and equipped with technology that past generations could only dream of existing, we boast of being the epitome of human existence. However, though technology constantly improves on itself and the community strives to become a more equal entity, I believe that as a society we are going backwards. By focusing on the progressive movements of our populace, we begin to neglect and abuse the nature that exists around us, which is something I believe a transcendentalist like yourself would agree, Thoreau.…

    • 793 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Henry David Thoreau is by far one of the most influential writers of the 17th century. He grew up in Concord Massachusetts and had a brother he could always count on. He later grew up to attend the famous college Harvard, but his family was financially unstable. By the time he was to graduate, the Great Depression fell upon them and he had to make ends meet. Thoreau learned right then and there that nothing was given to him; he had to work for what he wanted, or make what he had work. At this time it is imaginable that no one could just up and get a job because of the depression, So Thoreau knew he had to find a way to live with more grace, with more simplistic views. Early on as a child, his family suffered, until Thoreau took his brother and they both came up with an idea to help people versus try to take advantage of them and hurt them. They started a school right in their home town, just to help people who could not help themselves. Early on the ideas to help people and to live with more simple views shaped his transcedalism thought into what people know it as today ("Henry David…

    • 2625 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Materialism In Walden

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Since many readers did not have any prior understanding of Thoreau’s personal life, he was often seen as an anti-technology person. In reality, Thoreau was fascinated by technology despite his interests in nature. As noted in his novel Walden,Thoreau experienced many life changing inventions take place during his time such as power looms, railroads, and the telegraph were made during his generation. Though these inventions were products of a larger movement, he believed it was a destruction of nature. From Thoreau’s perspective, technological progression was counterproductive because it distracted people for more important matters. A clear example of Thoreau’s refusal for technological progress is shown when he expresses his concerns about trains. "To do things 'railroad fashion' is now the by-word; and it is worth the while to be warned so often and so sincerely by any power to get off its track. …Every path but your own is the path of fate. Keep on your own track then.” (Thoreau 111-12). Thoreau’s resentment towards trains is explained through this quote, as he feels it represents an allusion of control.…

    • 1375 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In his opening paragraph, he declares the bold and audacious statements: ‘[...] government is best which governs least [...]’ (lines 1-2) followed by, ‘[...] government is best which governs not at all [...]’ (line 4). Immediately the audience is—very clearly—exposed to his argument, which has an immense amount of force behind it. This is vital for Thoreau’s argument, as throughout his essay the audience hears a very strong and passionate voice, urging them to feel the same way about the topic, and that they too have been wronged by the government. Alongside Thoreau’s very forceful and powerful tone, a candid and critical tone is present. ‘This American government—what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?’ (lines 18-20). This very prominent line denounces the American government’s rectitude, implying that its partiality has reached to the point where it is just a pattern, and continued to increasingly execute unequitable behaviour. Though his attitude sounds negative and pessimistic, Thoreau does make a petition for action from society with an encouraging tone. ‘[...] I ask for, not at once no government, but at once a better government. Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it...’ (lines 45-48). Here, Thoreau uses ethos, as he knows that every man (and woman) wants to be respected, which then builds motivation for the people to take action against the current unjust government instead of heeding to its indoctrinated…

    • 1130 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    But this notion changed over the years. Thoreau has got another opinion about the aspect of nature and civilization. His main thought in the excerpt from Walden is that everything has to be simplified. In this excerpt…

    • 657 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Tammy excellent job for week five post. You explain Ralph Emerson & Henry Thoreau as great philosopher back in the day. Each of these men agree that life should be simple , honest and earn without wanting something in return. Thoreau was a man not in favor of the government , he felt that paying taxing was not right , therefore refuse to paid his taxes and jailed because if it. In today social , if you refuse to pay your taxes you are not jailed but your property will be sold. I personally liked him because he stood against an unjust government, do you think you could go to jail,for what you believe in or would you bend to have peace.…

    • 123 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Henry David Thoreau Essay

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages

    The great author Henry David Thoreau once wrote, "Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after." Thoreau's quote is trying to express that in life we sometimes try so hard to accomplish things and gain status that we tend to forget what we are really after is happiness. People often believe that certain things will bring them happiness such as money, jobs, and material possessions. However, after they acquire these things instead of feeling contentment they feel a sense of emptiness.…

    • 595 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays