Author: Olivia Friedman

One observation that struck me at Brown’s Bog was seeing the beech tree with some of its leaves still clinging desperately onto the branches. On this dreary winter’s day, all of the other trees were completely devoid of vegetation so the beech tree really stuck out, despite its leaves being dead and yellow instead of alive and green. Professor Bourne explained to us that only young beech trees have the ability to retain their leaves. This image of the young, stubborn beech tree refusing to de-leaf reminded me of a fond memory of my childhood. In our backyard, we have a beech tree much like the one at Brown’s bog. Every winter, my mother and I would go out into our backyard and she would comment on how we need to give this tree a “haircut” because she was just like me and hated “cutting her hair”. Together, my mom and I would pull these dead leaves off of the branches one by one so that they could regrow in the springtime. I don’t know if this actually helped that process, but it was a nice ritual. I always thought that our beech tree was just stubborn and refused to let go of her hair, and was always delighted when the green leaves would appear in the spring, proud to have helped her embrace a new haircut.

One interesting passage that Thoreau discusses in “Economy” is the topic of fashion. He condemns the speed at which people in his society buy, wear, and discard new clothing, saying that they “don garment after garment, as if we grew like exogenous plants by addition without” (23). I found it interesting that he expresses his disapproval of fast fashion by writing about it in terms of nature, indicating that he sees society through a natural lens and constantly compares them. He gripes about the difficulty of finding clothes that he likes to wear, stating the disbelief and judgement in the tailor’s response when he asks for a piece of clothing that is out of fashion. He claims that society worships “Fashion” instead of gods, and that this decision is “childish and savage”. I feel like he goes on a rant here for a few pages, letting his frustration about society’s fashion choices flow. I wonder if this is his only mode of relief, pouring his arguments into a book that “listens” instead of people in a society who disagree with him. I wonder if writing Walden, especially this chapter, is cathartic for Thoreau.

When reading this chapter, I got a good sense of Thoreau’s attitude towards society.  He said that he ventured into the village every one or two days,  to “hear some of the gossip”. He writes about the village and the people in it much like he writes about nature- careful observation through a lens of fascination.  He describes the multitude of signs advertising businesses and people’s houses as “dangers”, mentioning that he normally managed to avoid them. He seems to have had a negative view on society, in that it made him uncomfortable to be in the village for too long, and he would “escape” to the woods soon after entering. I do wonder, though, if he disliked being in the village so much, why he returned every day or so. Perhaps he was just emphasizing the difference between the woods and the town, and had a curiosity about the society just as he had a curiosity about nature.  He tells the story of how he got arrested for not paying his taxes during one of his town visits. He tells the tale in a very frank, unworried way, suggesting that he does not consider society and its rules to apply to him, or to be a threat to him. His overall view on society seemed to be that he enjoyed venturing in to observe the people and the happenings, but he much preferred to escape back to the woods. My attitudes are a bit dissimilar to Thoreau’s, but perhaps that is because I have lived in society for my entire life, and have not had a chance to live in the woods for a long duration of time. Perhaps once you experience the natural life, you too would consider society strange and fascinating.

I greatly enjoyed our trip to Johnson’s Woods. Even though the trees were bare and there was hardly any vegetation other than the dead leaves on the ground, I still got the sense that Johnson’s Woods was a place where many came to appreciate and connect to nature. Despite the wintery landscape, there were many interesting sights to observe. One such scene was the sight of the frozen pond that passed underneath the boardwalk, with single sticks sparingly poking straight up through the slush. The overall effect was eerie and ominous, as the sticks almost looked like skeletons reaching through the ice. Another sight that I encountered was a tree that, though the bark itself was smooth, had bumps all throughout the trunk. It looked a bit like something on the inside of the tree was pushing against the bark to break through. I don’t know if my mind had a “spooky” theme that day and I interpreted these sights due to my own cognitive state, but it seemed to me like nature was (literally) pushing back in this forest that seemed devoid of life. This sentiment was also strengthened when I observed the moss that grew in between the slates of the boardwalk. It was interesting to think about how nature eventually takes back its space, creeping over  unnatural things placed in its woods.

I am in favor of the boardwalk being placed in that forest. One of the rules of the Leave No Trace principles is to only walk on designated trails in order to avoid trampling as much of the nature as possible. This boardwalk provides a path that protects the rest of the forest floor from being stepped on, and protects the vegetation underneath and around it. Additionally, I think that the boardwalk prevents people from straying off the path to harm trees- the only graffiti I saw were carvings in trees directly next to the boardwalk, not beyond that. Also, I think that the boardwalk allows people with difficulty walking to access the woods and enjoy the nature around them.