Walden ch.1 notes

Walden ch.1 notes

1. nature

   • Thoreau criticizes clothing and persistently talks about how unimportant housing is.
     • He says that nature has provided man with habitation for survival. Clothing and creating houses is a waste and people waste too much time trying to perfect their homes. Nature already provides shelter like caves.
       • Thoreau notes that in society clothing plays a large roll in peoples social status.
         • He believes that peoples's personalities are more important than the materialistic things people have.

2. Background

   • Thoreau has not lived alone for his whole life. He was once apart of society but branched out to nature. He had worked six weeks prior to moving into isolation.
     • Before his experiment he worked as a
       • Reporter
       • Herdman
       • Highway surveyor

3. Thoreau's beliefs

   • Material objects
     • They are toxic and dangerous. Society makes material objects feel important.
       • Thoreau stress how toxic materialistic things are in society and how unnecessary they are.
   • Thoreau champions ideas of isloation from society and being self-reliant
     • He beleives a simple life is the best life
       • Society is a distraction. If you focus on what is going on around you in a society, you aren't yourself and not independent. This is one of Thoreau's many-core Transcendentalistic beliefs

4. Setting

   • Thoreau lives in wooden cabin he built near Walden pond.
     • He has lived in his cabin a little over two years now.
   • His home costs him around 28 to take care of.
   • Thoreau wants to be more than just physically connected to nature. He wants to be mentally and spiritually connected to his surroundings. Wants to be connected to the Walden pond.

5. Lifestyle

   • To maintain Thearau's lifestyle he must make just enough money to live his independent life style
     • Through trades Theareau makes about 13 dollars.
   • He has created a farm to reduce his reliance on society and to have his on sustainable source of food.
   • To keep sane and document his experiment, Thoreau says he writes a journal where he documents his experiences, thoughts, ideas, and everything else's he is thinking of.