Journal 11

Selections from Walden

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

It is about a man who lives in the woods and finds out that the best way to live is to live simply. He builds a cabin and lives by a pond for water. The main point is to live life only with the essentials needed. He was trying to live out the transcendentalist ideas of Emerson.

Quote: “to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

“Sounds” (234)

The narrorator simply sits and listens to the sounds all around him. He talks about how people go to the movies and do other things for their amusement and to distract themselves. He sits outside his cabin and listens to the noises all day. He is amused by the sounds in nature and doesn’t need anything else to entertain himself.

Quote: “I had this advantage, at least in my mode of life, over those who were obligated to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theater, that my life itself has become my amusement and never ceased to be novel”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

There is a war between the larger black ants and the more numerous red ants. The ants are fighting with the ferocity of humans and the tenacity of a bulldog. The ants are being compared to Greek epic heroes in the midst of an all-out war. The carnage of this battle is similar to the losses of battles in the American Revolution. Ants experience just as much hardship as human and celebrate just like we do.

Quote: “I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants that is was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black.”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

The speaker wakes up from a dream and wonders what life is all about. He watches all the fishermen in winter and how they live simply. The fishermen have a close connection to the land and are in touch with nature. The main point is that nature is simple; we need to go out and live simple as well.

Quote: “But there was dawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips.”

“Spring” (238)

With the beginning of spring, everything is starting to move and change. Nature is starting to renew himself. He talks of an old wise man whose knowledge, the narrator will never match. In this wonderful time death cannot take its toll.

Quote: “As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.”