Henry David Thoreau's Walking: Analysis

There is a common desire in humans to gain absolute freedom and wildness in one’s lifetime. Obviously, there are many ways to acquire such characteristics, but we learn from the renowned author, Henry David Thoreau, that we can find these eminent privileges by “walking.” Thoreau wrote the essay “Walking” while he was restricted to bed, dying of tuberculosis. While suffering from his disease, he ironically emphasized the magnitude, importance, and privilege of spending four hours a day walking, becoming absolutely free of all worldly engagements. Throughout his essay, he attempts to attract his audience to the idea of walking by saying that one will gain a greater perspective on vitality, freedom, and their sense of self-awareness. He portrays these aspects by using figurative language, imagery, and aphorism to express his ideology of the opportunities and advantages that come from walking. Thoreau’s frequent use of figurative language allows his audience to have an open and creative mind, allowing a foundation for the reader to better understand his meaning of the text. At the beginning of his essay he brings to mind and argues that office jobs keep people inside all day where they are sitting, and not walking or standing. He goes on to say, “[The worker] grows vespertinal in his habits as the evening of life approaches, till at last he comes forth just before sundown, and gets all the walk that he requires in half an hour” (45). Here, Thoreau is explaining that as a man or woman grows older, they become more comfortable with sitting still and going about their days never developing the opportunity to walk. Thoreau uses this phrase to refer to one’s lifetime as if it was a regular day, symbolically making the sunrise birth, and therefore, sundown being death. This metaphor is used by Thoreau to argue the importance of making walking a daily routine, and to make the routine a priority and avoid the “vespertinal” procrastination. When this essay was

Cited: Thoreau, Henry David. “Walking.” Listening to Earth. Comp. Christopher Hallowell and Comp. Walter Levy. New York: Pearson Longman, 2005. 44-53. Print.