Coming Back Into Society (The Village)

Though Thoreau speaks to his connection to nature and makes it clear that he prefers the solitude of the woods to the busy village, in this section of Walden Thoreau also touches on this idea of the need to go back into society for specific things. At the beginning of the section he speaks about coming back into the village to both hear and stir the gossip happening in the city. To me this speaks to the idea of how I like to enter into nature for an afternoon, maybe a few weeks, but not for much longer. I have not had the opportunity to go for longer; however, I feel that even though I love nature I would feel so disconnected with my various communities if I left to go into nature for much longer. Even if someone does not like society I feel that it is still human nature to want to enter back into society at some moments, even if it is just to hear some simple gossip. 

Later on in the section Thoreau also talks about his more physical needs, as he mentions needing to go back into town to pick up shoes from a cobbler. He later gets arrested, and speaks to not liking the village again; however, the village still provides him with something. Thoreau could not make shoes in the woods, and this need drives him out of the woods towards the village. No matter how self-sufficient someone wants to be in nature the needs that society has instilled within us have made it.