Solitude

Solitude

1. Thoreau describes that he has a large amount of untouched land

   • No houses visible in the nearby and a distance view of the railroad
   • He feels like he had a "little world all to his own"
   • Thoreau has never felt lonely by being alone
     • For about an hour after arriving in the forest, Thoreau had doubted "if the near neighborhood of man was not as essential to a serine and healthy life
     • Thoreau believed that nature itself was like its own society
       • He believed it was more friendly and welcoming than his old society
     • Doesn't feel like he would be really ever be lonely
       • Everyone is spaced apart, and are all in the same area, depending on how it is looked at, Thoreau is always around people no matter how far the distance

2. "Sometimes when I compare myself to other men, it seems that I am more favored by the gods than them"

3. "We are the subjects of an experiment, can we not do without the society of our gossips a little while under these circumstances; have our own thoughts to cheer us"

   • Thoreau believes this his own thoughts could keep him satisfied and entertained for long amounts of time. He does not need all of those unproductive gossips in order to be entertained.

4. Thoreau thinks that when we are around strangers or the wrong people, we are more alone than actually being by ourselves

   • He sees solitude as a better companion than hes ever had
   • "A man thinking or working will always be alone regardless of where he is"
   • A student at Cambridge is as solitary as a dervish in the desert
   • The people in a society are in each others way

5. Thoreau does not feel alone at all even though he is by myself

6. Analysis

   • Thoreau explains that he is distancing himself from society, that he no longer finds the use in being around others or having company
   • Thoreau feels that although there is a town and neighbors a mile or two away, he feels completely by himself as if the nearest house is across the world
   • Thoreau also explains that everything he could possibly need is in nature or himself.