Chapter 11: Higher Laws

Chapter 11: Higher Laws

1. Spiritual and Savage Instinct

   • As Thoreau travels back home, he encounters a woodchuck that he would love to consume because of how hungry he is.
     • Thoreau does not feel guilty about his thoughts because he believes they are as important as our spiritual beliefs.
     • Hunting and eating animals makes Thoreau feel closer to nature.

2. The Humane Society

   • The Humane Society aims to protect animals, but they are really distracting them from their purpose in life.
     • Thoreau believes that animals have been eaten since the beginning of time, so humans should not ruin the cycle of nature.
   • As long as you appreciate the gift of the animal’s life, there is nothing wrong with eating them.
     • Hunters do show gratitude, but the Humane Society simply makes people feel bad for respecting nature.

3. Hunters in Civilization

   • At one point in every man’s life, he has been hunting or witnessed an animal be hunted down.
     • Thoreau does not think that this is something for people to be ashamed of because it brings us closer to nature.
     • It also shows that our savage instincts have been taught to us by the previous generations.

4. Future for Savage Instincts

   • People should only eat the sufficient amount of food needed for energy, nothing more or less.
   • People have become lazy, and have stopped preparing meals for themselves because they want to feel the power of controlling another to do it for them.
     • As a result, we do not realize how great of a gift that animals are, and ignore nature.
       • Thoreau believes that if this is how people will act, then we should stop consuming animals for our own pleasures.

5. Animal Within Humans

   • Humans will always crave more of what they have, especially food.
     • Thoreau believes this is how we are born, but that it is definitely not our best characteristic.
   • Thoreau knows that he possesses these thoughts as well, but attempts to strive for purity, even though he will never fully achieve it.