Chapter 1: Economy

Chapter 1: Economy

1. Walden Pond

   • Thoreau built his house on the shore of Walden Pond, in Concord, Massachusetts, where he lived for two years, two months, and two days.
     • Moved in on the 4th of July
     • Compares him building his house to a bird building its nest (139).
     • Finances
       • House costed a total of $23 12 1/2
         • Says its much more worth it to pay a one-time fee and build a house rather than pay the same thing for annual rent.
         • Since he established his audience to be "poor students" earlier in the novel, he compares the cost of his housing to the cost of college housing
           • Says college is useless because they don't teach real-life skills.
             • "Even the poor student studies and is taught only political economy, while that economy of living is synonymous with philosophy is not even sincerely professed in our colleges" (Thoreau 144). 
       • Before finishing the house, he took up subsidiary farming to make a living and sustain himself.
         • Makes a profit of $8 71 1/2, which he believes is better than any farmer in Concord did that year.
       • He had several trades and earned $13 34
         • Spent $8 74 on food in 8 months, which is a little hypocritical
       • After all deductions were made he was left with $25 21 3/4, while many in Concord still owed money for their luxuries
       • Concludes he would have to work 6 weeks in a year to live the way he wants, and he would have the rest of the year to enjoy
         • "I found, that by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winters, as well as most of my summers, I had free and clear for study" (Thoreau 156). 
     • He makes his own bread and encourages readers to make their own food too
     • Has minimal furniture, only the necessities, part of which he made himself and the other part that costed nothing
       • "Furniture! Thank God, I can sit and I can stand without the aid of a furniture warehouse" (Thoreau 154). 
   • Noted that he did not move into the woods for cheap housing, but rather because Walden Pond seemed like a good place to handle private business enterprises.
     • "I have thought that Walden Pond would be a good place for business... it is a good post and a good foundation" (Thoreau 120). 

2. Men/Society

   • Thoreau believes that men who inherit farming assets are destined to waste their labor and life.
   • Outwardly poor people are inwardly rich.
     • "...none has been poorer in outward riches, none so rich in inward" (Thoreau 115).  
   • Men are more concerned with their materialistic life on Earth that they forget all about the spirituality of the afterlife.
     • "We have built for this world a family mansion, and for the next a family tomb" (Thoreau 133). 

3. Transcendentalism

   • Private vs. Public Opinion / Self reliance
     • "Public opinion is a weak tyrant compared with our own private opinion. What a man thinks of himself, that it is which determines, or rather indicates, his fate" (Thoreau 110).
   • Age does not equal wisdom
     • "the old have no very important advice to give to the young... I have yet to hear the first syllable of valuable or even earnest advice from my seniors" (Thoreau 111).
     • Expresses that human experiences can become outdated from generation to generation
   • Society is trapped in a routine
     • "So thoroughly and sincerely we are compelled to live, reverencing our life, and denying the possibility of change" (Thoreau 113). 
     • This routine is caused by the fear of new experiences and uncertainties.
       • "How vigilant we are! determined not to live by faith if we can avoid it; all day long on the alert, at night we unwillingly say our prayers and commit ourselves to uncertainties" (Thoreau 113). 
   • Constantly compares humans to nature

4. Necessities of life (Food, Shelter, Clothing, and Fuel)

   • Compares humans to animals with the necessity of keeping the body warm through Food ("the Fuel which keeps up the fire within us") and Fuel ("serves only to prepare that Food or to increase the warmth of our bodies") in conjunction with Shelter and Clothing
   • Argues that an excess of food, shelter, clothing, and fuel has been prioritized in society, but is useless.
     • Clothes
       • Believes that people use clothes to determine their social worth/power.
         • Clothing should only be used for heat and to cover nakedness, not to represent wealth or nobility
         • Adds that people care more about their clothes than their conscience.
           • "I am sure that there is greater anxiety, commonly, to have fashionable, or at least clean and unpatched clothes, than to have a sound conscience" (Thoreau 121).
         • Shames the manufacturing of clothing in factories, believes people should make their own
     • Shelter
       • Says there's no need for a grand shelter
         • "Consider first how slight a shelter is absolutely necessary" (Thoreau 126). 
         • Uses nature as well as the Native American lifestyle to exaggerate what a man in society pays for shelter is far too much.
           • "... in modern civilized society not more than one half of the families own a shelter... The rest pay an annual tax... which would buy a village of Indian wigwams" (Thoreau 127).  *wigwams are Native American huts
       • Discusses that common practice of debt
       • You don't own a house, the house owns you
         • "And when the farmer has got his house, he may not be the richer but the poorer for it, and it be the house that has got him" (Thoreau 130). 

5. Thoreau Background

   • Prior to isolation, Thoreau worked several jobs including a journal reporter (even though his work was always declined for publication), a self-appointed inspector of snow/rain storms, and a herdsman.
   • Abolitionist, this novel takes place during the time slavery was being debated
     • Refers to slaves having “moderate circumstances" (Thoreau 131). 

6. Philanthropy

   • People say that Thoreau's ways are selfish, and he agrees at times he isn't a do-gooder, but he says he would never stand in the way of another man's success (159).
   • Believes philanthropy is overrated. What a transcendentalist thing to say.
     • "Philanthropy is almost the only virtue which is sufficiently appreciated by mankind. Nay, it is greatly overrated; and it is our selfishness which overrates it" (Thoreau 162).