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In economy,  Thoreau writes about the enlightenment he achieved by letting go of the luxuries of overabundance. He states that having the bare minimum is enough for a person to survive and even flourish as he/she would be freed from the imaginary pressure imposed by society and oneself. “By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been from the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it.” This paragraph starts with a description of the bare minimum according to Thoreau. The passage in general is Thoreau explaining what he thinks is the only requirement for a person to live to the fullest. Cloth, food and shelter in this case.

One passage from this chapter that I found interesting was near the beginning when he talks about how hard people work, and how they basically are working their life away. I think that he is implying that he believes that you do not really need to work to obtain the life that you want and that just because you have money does not mean you have happiness or the life that you may want. On page 109 Thoreau says “It is a fool’s life…”, which to me follows along with his ideas that are seen throughout the entire book. I also think this strengthens the argument that Thoreau see society as odd sometimes for doing things such as working your life away when you could be doing better things with your life.

 “By the words, necessary of life, I mean whatever, of all that man obtains by his own exertions, has been form the first, or from long use has become, so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savages, or poverty, or philosophy, ever attempt to do without it.”(Thoreau, pg.120)

In this section, Thoreau lays out the necessities of man: food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. He seems to view these things as things that make humans weak, especially those who are civilized. He compares the savages’ hardiness to the cold weather to the civilized man’s inability to be warm enough even with clothes. He also mentions the selfishness of humans who do anything to obtain their necessities of life, as he states, “with our beds,…robbing the nests and breasts of birds to prepare this shelter…”(Thoreau, pg.121). We are able to see Thoreau’s attitude toward materialistic items and simple life, in his response to comforts/luxuries. As he talks about society’s need of excess material, he puts himself apart from them, bringing up that as a philosopher one should live a life of simplicity (as he does).

In Economy, Thoreau explores the relationship between luxury through nature. I think it is fascinating that Thoreau considers the luxury of nature as an accidental discovery made by humans because often humans yearn for and seek to possess some form of luxury. It seems as though nature unknowingly provided humans a luxurious resource but to acquire it humans had to work for it. I believe luxury can only be attained by a limited number of individuals. However, Thoreau argues exclusivity of luxury can become inclusive. He illustrates this juxtaposition by focusing on one of earth’s most powerful elements, fire. Thoreau saw fire as a luxury because it was an unfamiliar and beneficial resource (Thoreau 114). But, he argues fire lost its status of luxury when it became a “present necessity to sit by it” (Thoreau 114). Thoreau alludes to this idea that luxury cannot be a necessity or enjoyed by humans. I find Thoreau’s definition of luxury contradictory to the Merriam Webster’s definition of luxury, which defines it as “something adding to pleasure or comfort but not absolutely necessary” and “an indulgence in something that provides pleasure, satisfaction, or ease” (Merriam Webster). It makes me wonder, can luxury be enjoyed by many or does it have to be accessible to some people and treated as a rarity?

“So thoroughly and sincerely are we compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change. This is the only way, we say; but there are as many ways as there can be drawn radii from one centre. All change is a miracle to contemplate; but it is a miracle which is taking place every instant.” -page 113

The discussion of change has been a prominent one throughout our time reading both Thoreau and McKibben. Here, Thoreau establishes change as a “miracle.” I want to focus on change in the context of nature. He was living in a time before climate change was radically affecting nature and its processes; however, his discussions of our discomfort towards accepting change are pertinent in today’s political and social climate. McKibben speaks of how quickly change can take place, and how, in terms of climate change, these changes are often completely overlooked in favor of greed and comfort. In this case, the changes that we are witnessing are not “miracles,” but I do think that it is poignant that Thoreau speaks of the refusal to accept change when that is, in fact, one of the largest problems surrounding the climate crisis today, and one of the largest threats to the nature that he reveres so highly.

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.

“I have thus a tight shingled and plastered house, ten feet wide by fifteen long, and eight-feet posts, with a garret and a closet, a large window on each side, two trap doors, one door at the end, and a brick fireplace opposite. The exact cost of my house, paying the usual price for such materials as I used, but not counting the work, all of which was done by myself, was as follows; and I give the details because very few are able to tell exactly what their houses cost, and fewer still, if any, the separate cost of the various materials which compose them:”

Throughout Thoreau’s book he incorporates bookkeeping tables that represents the expenses that he pays while in the woods, but also the profit he gets from doing various tasks (ex. working on the bean fields). One particular passage and bookkeeping table that stood out to me was in the chapter called “Economy” where Thoreau outlines his expenses for the cabin he builds himself. I think Thoreau’s use of the table highlights not only does he want to live a lifestyle where he does not incur a lot of debt, but also, the fact that he does not need to buy new material to feel content with his house. In general, Thoreau’s inclusion of tables throughout the book sheds light on his desire to avoid and essentially restrain himself from giving into the consumer society that his fellow peers and community members are so actively engaged in.

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.