Walden I. Economy

Walden I. Economy

1. Setting:

   • During the book: Alone in the woods (Concord, Massachusetts)
     • Present: In civilization as a sojourner
     • Felt out of place in town. Volunteer work went unappreciated
       • Thoreau felt more welcome and known in the woods.

2. Labor

   • What Thoreau has witnessed in Concord
     • Farmesmen are born into labor
       • It is better to be a simple man and live a simple man
     • Labormen
       • Machines
       • Devoted to money. No time for knowledge
   • Poor try to earn money at every opportunity
   • Men are the slave-drivers of themselves.
     • Private opinion > Public opinion
   • An ongoing system. Common mode of living
     • Unwillingness to change

3. Abolition

   • The goal of man is to understand the fact of his imagination
     • Old deeds for old people, new deeds for new
       • Age does not define wisdom

4. Necessities of Life

   • Food and Warmth
     • Luxuries
       • Fuel, clothing, shelter
         • Clothes should not reflect rank or character as it often does.
           • Shelters reflect the domestic lives we live. In shelter there is isolation and separation from nature.
             • Civilized Man Vs. Savagery
               • "Bankruptcy and repudiation are the spring- boards from which much of our civilization vaults" (Thoreau 36).
                 • The civilized man that dwells on obtaining gross necessities and comforts has better shelter than the poor farmer.
                   • Focus on the simplicity and nakedness of life. The advantages of nature and the freedom from comfort and furnishment
       • More luxuries leads to greater necessity
     • Freedom
   • True Philosophers
     • Live a life of simplicity. With independence , magnanimity, and trust.
       • Philosophers: Chinese, Hindu, Persian, and Greek

5. Walden's Pond

   • He builds his own house away from society in the secludedness of his the woods. His house is constructed imperfectly to reflect his humble beliefs.
     • The total cost to build his house was $28.12 1/2.
       • Compensate waste of money with work.
     • Believes society focuses on more agriculture areas for money rather than spaces for free thought.
   • Finnances
     • Cheap living. Focus on what nature provides and agriculture rather than trade for luxuries.
     • Philanthropy is accepted by society but it is overrated by selfishness.