Month: February 2020

The over lying theme of the Economy seems to be focused on how humans have a way changing the situations to better suit us but that is not necessarily a bad thing. for example he talks about him baking bread and getting rid of yeast after an burn incident one time. Also he talks about the way he cut down trees in order to make a log cabin for shelter.

After reading the Economy I feel as though Thoreau does an excellent job in providing extremely realistic details for imagery. I found it very interesting how he was able to describe everything in a relatable way. Albeit Thoreau’s writing can be a bit extensive at points in the reading however many times it was what the writing required. I also feel like it is very important to keep in mind this book was just his thoughts scribbled down so it is not much of a surprise that most of his writing is about the truly outstanding things he felt and wanted to convey with utmost clarity. One thing that often frustrates me is trying to figure out how much to read into Thoreau’s writing because while he does use nature to explain his ideologies I usually get confused trying to figure out what exactly he means.

Hey I realized I never posted my first blog due to technical difficulties so here it is now.

When I was in seventh grade my boy scout patrol was lucky enough to be able to go on a mountaineering trip down in Philmont for two weeks. Philmont is a large plot of land in New Mexico That was entrusted by Wait Philips to the Boy Scouts of America with the condition that Boy Scouts take care of the land. One thing about the outdoors is there are bears-it seemed like bears were everywhere- And bears have a really good sense of smell. So the way to avoid having bears ransacking our tents is, every time we set up camp we would put all of our “smellables”(food toilet paper trash) in a “bear bag” and string that bag up on a cable running between two trees about 20 feet from the ground. During the second day we had arrived at crater camp. Like all of the campsites in Philmont it was breathtaking and completely unique. The layout of this campsite was a spot 500 meters or so from a rushing river that had eroded a gorge. It should be Noted that when we went the drought had ended that summer and we experienced rain almost everyday. As a result the environment was thriving there was ground cover of ferns, lichen, and a lot of moss. That night it was my turn to string up the bear bags. Somehow when I was throwing the rope over the cable I managed to tie a perfect knot onto the cable. And I spent the next hour along with my buddy trying to get the rope untied. And with no success my buddy went to go eat while I stayed trying to wiggle the rope off the cable. At one point I just stopped what I was doing and listened. I could hear the water rushing through its course, while still being able to hear the absence of movement around me. And the green life around me was highlighted by the light mist from the recent showers. 

Thorough all of Thoreau’s writing, he finds ways to elaborate on his thoughts to an exhaustive extent. This often leaves the reader with little to imagine or picture. In the chapter Economy, this trend continues. To begin with, Thoreau has a self-dialogue on page 117 where he is talking about the weather in his region from the past up to the current time. He states those who knew about the history of weather wouldn’t be too surprised what was being encountered. While the people who didn’t have this knowledge would be quite surprised by it. This self-dialogue distracted my comprehension because of the shift in his dialogue to a self-discussion. In addition to the filler language which Thoreau uses he additionally uses language that creates strong imagery. Toward the end of Economy Thoreau talks about the way in which the priest rubs the sticks together to create fire in the town public square. Following that he describes the ways in which the people consume food and dance for the following three days. He states that people from different villages have prepared themselves in like fissions as each other. This all exemplifies the way in which Thoreau goes into detail about every aspect of his surroundings to ensure the reader can visualize what he is seeing. This while beneficial to the clarity of his writing can leave little to the imagination which can frustrate some audiences.

On page 142 of my copy of the book, it is 1845 nearing the end of March and Thoreau is starting the process of building his small house, he first asks to borrow an axe. The owner of this axe states that the axe was “the apple of his eye.” Thoreau then simply projects that, “It is difficult to begin without borrowing” Thoreau then goes down to the woods by the dark icy pond, these woods are filled with youthful tall arrowy white pines and hickories. Here he cuts down the trees and collected timber for the construction of his home.

While reading this I thought of how he was not only borrowing the axe from the man, but also from nature.  Chopping down wood for his home he essentially killed many trees for the purpose of shelter I felt as if the concept of borrowing from nature was present.

 

Thoreau often uses metaphor to express a situation or to invoke an image of nature. These stylistic choices not only give his writing vibrance and life, but they also inevitably give the reader multiple ways to dissect his ideas, offering them various lenses through which to observe a single scene. It offers both a literal and more interpretive point of view, imploring that the reader see ordinary things in a new light. 

This mode of description stood out to me as Thoreau was discussing clothes. On page 21 (at least in my edition), he describes clothes using language associated with botany, comparing a human to a plant. He refers to our “thin and fanciful clothes” as our epidermis (the “skin” of a plant), our “thicker garments, constantly worn” as our cortex (tissue beneath the epidermis), and our shirts as our “true bark.” In this way, Thoreau manages to do the opposite of anthropomorphizing, he rather attributes plant traits to humans. 

The clothes he refers to as our epidermis I gathered were our jackets, and the way he describes them here suggests that he sees them as more decorative than functional. Taking the plant perspective however, one could interpret the functional similarities between a jacket and an epidermis: they both act to keep things in (water for plants, heat for humans) and keep things out (bacteria and fungi in plants, water and weather for humans). In this way, he once again creates a layered scene, rife for multiple interpretations.

This passage highlights not only Thoreau’s command of language, but also his extensive knowledge of the natural world. However much I question his work because of his seemingly  condescending attitude toward society, it’s moments like these that show Thoreau’s skill and commitment to a nature-centered way of life. It shows that even when describing a solely human attribute, his mind always takes him back to nature.

“To anticipate, not the sunrise and the dawn merely, but, if possible, Nature herself! How many mornings, summer and winter, before yet any neighbor was stirring about his business, have I been about mine! No doubt, many of my townsmen have met me returning from this enterprise, farmers starting for Boston in the twilight, or woodchoppers going to their work. It is true, I never assisted the sun materially in his rising, but, doubt not, it was of the last importance only to be present at it.” -p.117, 118

Thoreau here speaks of his affection towards his simple life away from the overbearingness and vices of society. To rise with the sun is a frequent narrative used by those who feel at one with nature because they are independent from dull routines and alarm clocks. Instead, Thoreau awakes alongside other animals and creatures, in tune with non-human nature. By attuning to nature’s rhythms, he sees himself as sensing nature itself. His focus on nature, tending to his dear crops, and going about his calm business, rather than wasting time worrying about the face-paced life of Concord. That does not mean Thoreau did not come across various struggles in his lifestyle, but they were inevitable results from simple-living, not societal excesses that could be avoided. In the end, how Thoreau lived made him satisfied and feel he was living his life to the fullest.

Different from our view of nature as something to be preserved and untouched, Thoreau believes nature is something we should use in our effort to live simply.  He uses the bean field as a simpler means to produce one’s own food without feeding into a mass-producing society.  He also claims to “love [his] rows,” saying, “They attached me to the earth, and so I got great strength like Anteaus” (Walden 219).  He uses his bean field as a conduit through which to connect to the ground beneath his feet and establish a transcendent connection to his simple self.  Still, Thoreau acknowledges the potentially exploitative behavior, asking, “But what right had I to oust johnswort and the rest, and break up their ancient herb garden?” (Walden 220).  The content of this question indicates Thoreau’s awareness of his disruptive presence, something we have discussed at length in class.  By phrasing it as a rhetorical question, Thoreau invites his reader(s) to contemplate that question for themselves, while also, perhaps, reflecting his own lack of an answer.  Regardless, this stylistic choice enhances the quality of Thoreau’s journal, as it maintains his authenticity of thought while he is living and working by Walden Pond.

His attitude toward society really through me off. I didn’t like how he described the way the town worked. How men would eat nuts and gossip, things like that. It gave me the vibe that one, he felt superior to them. It made it seem he was judging the town for indulging in popular human pastimes, that he would never be bothered with. Two he treated the description like another description of something he would find in the woods. It was very detached from his own “kind”. He observed them as if they were animals, it gave me serial killer vibes. This passage wasn’t my favorite, it left me feeling quite bizarre. I wonder how he would have described the college.

“Many a traveler came out of his way to see me and
the inside of my house, and, as an excuse for calling,
asked for a glass of water.” In chapter six, on the passage that begins with that sentence, Walden writes about how some half witted men came to him and his disinterest in engaging. This is the main message of Visitors, Walden’s seeking of solitude with his occasional curiosity in interesting people.

On page 243, Thoreau describes the lake as “the landscape’s most beautiful and expressive feature. It is the earth’s eye; looking into which the beholder measures the depth of his own nature. The fluviatile trees next to the shore are the slender eyelashes which fringe it, and the wooded hills and cliffs around are its overhanging brows.”

When I first read this, I was sure that he was likening nature to a human face. Looking back at it, there is not necessarily any language that would indicate that this is necessarily a human face; rather, it could be describing the face of another animal. It made me wonder whether this anthropomorphic perspective was completely my own, or whether Henry David Thoreau was, in fact, intentionally trying to compare this natural setting to a human face. Perhaps he assumed that readers would automatically connect this description to that which they are familiar with: a human face.