Analysis of Conclusion of Thoreau’s Walden Essay - 2987 Words

Analysis of â€Å"Conclusion† of Thoreau’s Walden The chapter entitled â€Å"Conclusion† is a fitting and compelling final chapter to Thoreau’s Walden. Throughout Walden, Thoreau delves into his surroundings, the very specifics of nature, and what he was thinking about, without employing any metaphors and including none of his poignant aphorisms. However, placed among these at-times tedious sections, come spectacular and wholly enjoyable interludes of great and profound thought from a writer that has become extremely popular in modern America. His growth of popularity over such contemporary favorites as Emerson in our modern era stems from the fact that Thoreau calls for an â€Å"ideological revolution to simplification† in our lives. This†¦show more content†¦He compares this ability and this behavior to humans which are, of course, now more sedentary creatures that cherish their homeland and do not wish to embark on worldly peregrinations as such. The young transcendentalist tells us that as a society we now choose to bind ourselves in certain earthly locations; however, we can still very easily get to hell. In a very direct and straightforward sense, he is saying that although human nature now wishes more than ever to stay in one place and move about less, we can still quite easily make the ultimately undesirable trip to an underworld, doomed to pay for sins, stationed in one place on Earth as they may be. â€Å"...Doctors prescribe for diseases of the skin merely,† Thoreau wrote. What did he mean? I believe that the young writer’s sentiment can be interpreted in a couple of manners. First, doctors during his time would be relying much more on just looking at the outer health and condition of the â€Å"skin† (as a synecdoche for the rest of the patient’s outer signs and symptoms) for making diagnoses and surmises about the fault of a patient’s health. On a much deeper and more symbolical level, the intellectual strata where Thoreau most likely intended the statement to be found, this statement could be in order to emphasize a point that doctors weren’t and still really aren’t able today to fix and diagnose problems and diseases of the human soul and spirit. The soul and conscienceShow MoreRelatedCompare And Contrast Thoreau And Walden1424 Words   |  6 PagesA Literary Analysis of works by Mary Oliver Henry David Thoreau Author, Henry David Thoreau and Mary Oliver are both very passionate about nature and what it has to offer in life, as well as the symbolism behind nature and its creatures in their works of literature, in â€Å"Walden†, and â€Å"The House of Light†, Both authors discuss their views of nature and the beauty of the world that they want to make familiar to their audience. 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Henry David Thoreau, was born in 1817 and although unbeknownst to his younger self would soon become a great leader in transcendental thought. During Thoreau’s graduation from Harvard, a speech entitled, The American Scholar, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, was given as the graduation speech. Thoreau became fascinated by Emerson’s way of thinking, (Transcendentalism) and wished to become a disciple of the greatRead MoreMasculinity in Chuck Palahniuks Work7062 Words   |  29 PagesMachiavellian and self-serving wars, have rendered men yearning for integral and worthy of emulation, male role models.2   Mendieta’s analysis of Palahniuk’s work takes a very direct approach in margining masculinity in crisis, directly blaming culture itself. I believe that Palahniuk’s characters are not victims of society’s emasculating effects, but subject to their own self-analysis.   What truly interests Palahniuk is the nature of man in response to this.   Palahniuk’s concern is not that men are no longer