By the time I finished reading this unlicensed horn blowing for resistance, the odd nonconformist with an unending supply of pencils and a penchant to chart his thoughts, instead of allowing it to be unscribbled and unremembered without harming others, H.D.Thoreau was thoroughly chopped up on the floor of my consciousness.Thank you.
2
Walden is NOT a National Park. It is a state reservation. See http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/walden-pond-...
A nit to pick: "Today, Walden is preserved as a national park,"
It is the "Walden Pond State Reservation", it is not a national park. I pass it everyday. A nice place to walk and swim if, as you say, you can get parking.
http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/walden-pond-...
It is the "Walden Pond State Reservation", it is not a national park. I pass it everyday. A nice place to walk and swim if, as you say, you can get parking.
http://www.mass.gov/eea/agencies/dcr/massparks/region-north/walden-pond-...
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Wonderful. Thank you.
2
I have lived in Concord for 27 years and am one of a secret group of Concordians who whisper to each other at parties that: "I only pretend to bird watch", "I didn't make that from scratch", and "I don't really care much for Thoreau." (something, I think, to do with his going regularly to town to have his mother wash his laundry. So much for his buddy Emerson's ode to self reliance.)
That was before I read your article. Having opened my heart, I will open, at last, the dusty hard cover copy of Walden that was a house warming gift so many yeas ago.
Thanks
That was before I read your article. Having opened my heart, I will open, at last, the dusty hard cover copy of Walden that was a house warming gift so many yeas ago.
Thanks
14
Sorry to interject, but this political correctness is beyond the pale. Take Thoreau for what he said, what he did, and the philosophy he espoused. Whether or not he had "companions" is immaterial. Accept his observations for what they were, what they are.
None of us stands alone (see John Donne,) but accept that there are those who have made their mark, and expressed a philosophy that can be accepted by many. If one wishes to extol the virtues of others who might or might not have had a conrtibution in some way , let that stand alone, of its own merits, and do not detract from the accomplishments of others for politically correct reasons.
None of us stands alone (see John Donne,) but accept that there are those who have made their mark, and expressed a philosophy that can be accepted by many. If one wishes to extol the virtues of others who might or might not have had a conrtibution in some way , let that stand alone, of its own merits, and do not detract from the accomplishments of others for politically correct reasons.
7
Walden may be read in several ways. One way is to read it as fiction, with a viewpoint character resembling the author in some ways, but probably more intense, more severely principled, and more focused on living to make a point.
Thoreau, or may I call him Henry, did not entertain a set of values that excluded people and human relations. He understood loving friendship (and therefore loneliness better than almost anyone, I believe, but he never had a very satisfying, long-term experience, probably because New Englanders were inhibited, close-lipped, and buttoned-up to an extreme. To read some of his lamentations on this topic (e.g. from the Journal, February 8, 1857) is heartbreaking. "I could better have the earth taken away from under my feet, than the thought of you from my mind."
Thoreau, or may I call him Henry, did not entertain a set of values that excluded people and human relations. He understood loving friendship (and therefore loneliness better than almost anyone, I believe, but he never had a very satisfying, long-term experience, probably because New Englanders were inhibited, close-lipped, and buttoned-up to an extreme. To read some of his lamentations on this topic (e.g. from the Journal, February 8, 1857) is heartbreaking. "I could better have the earth taken away from under my feet, than the thought of you from my mind."
6
Those of us who keep mentioning his laundry are doing it for a reason. I'd appreciate solitude and simplicity, too, but it's harder to achieve when you are the person doing the laundry and the cooking.
Sure, the prose is lovely and thought provoking, but it's enabled not by living simply, but by the labor of others.
Sure, the prose is lovely and thought provoking, but it's enabled not by living simply, but by the labor of others.
18
A goofy "appreciation" of a writer who never claimed to live alone as some kind of reclusive hero, but only tried to show that one could experience tranquility and even a kind of joy by living austerely and economically. HDT was an early critic of consumerism and technology. He deplored the telegraph and daily newspapers. One can only imagine what he would think of video games, cable and satellite TV, social media, and The Stone..
16
To be clear, the Native Americans did not vanish. Their land was stolen from them. There is a lot more history, 10,000 years worth and more, before Thoreau lived at Walden, or any people of European descent.
23
Nice piece. I teach Thoreau and some of these insights will be useful for my students. One thing, though: the notion that what Emerson meant by "Self-Reliance" is something like rugged individualism is a repeated inaccuracy that I was surprised to see here. I won't pursue that now. What's more important is that what's here adds to Thoreau scholarship.
8
Teach Thoreau? I think Thoreau would object to such an activity, and encourage you, David McClean: to work on your own book, write your own original poetry, or song. Your own work-of-art. And, only Thoreau could, teach Thoreau. Be a soloist.
2
Oh please, Ms. Foster. If you prefer to say that teachers "guide" their students through works of literature, then fine. But allow teachers their shorthand: They do indeed try to teach Thoreau, and Twain, and for that matter James and Dickinson -- if only kids would let them.
And so often, they do. Lucky teachers who actually teach.
And so often, they do. Lucky teachers who actually teach.
32
Many comments show that many people have not read Walden. Most of the objections to Thoreau's life here are a result of that lack of reading. Read Walden and you will see that Thoreau never claimed to be a recluse, that he strolled into town every day or two, that he sent his laundry out. What possible difference can it make to an understanding and appreciation of Walden that its author had his laundry done at home? Do we now evaluate the lives of writers and the quality of their books by who does their laundry? Who did Emerwsn's laundry? Hawthorne's? Melville's? Lot's of silly comment here. Read the book, then comment.
23
For the last time: he never says he took laundry home, relied on mother and sister for dinner or dessert, lived deep in wilderness, or all the other myths beloved by bottomfeeding haters and ignorami. Those rumors were spread by jealous neighbors as early as the 1880s (though the smarmy-takedown mode of critique starts with Emerson's cruel eulogy) and the laundry fallacy is enshrined in print even in the Paul Theroux intro to the Princeton UP edition of The Maine Woods, a shoddy lapse on someone's part. Walden is a fable, a great one. Read it as such, and stop fixating on pie and socks as an excuse not to think, really think, about what it means to live rightly.
18
The women did the laundry...as usual.
I read that women family members also prepared his food and delivered it to his cabin.
As Francoise Sagan wrote: What a curse to be born a woman!
I read that women family members also prepared his food and delivered it to his cabin.
As Francoise Sagan wrote: What a curse to be born a woman!
3
Whoever Thoreau was and did, wasn't and didn't do, which, perhaps, he should have and could have, this article is a well written caveat for living in today's toxic coopting WE-THEY culture, sustained, in part by willful blindness, deafness, and ignorance about the plight of dehumanized, politically constructed "the other."
17
“Know thyself” has always been overrated.
1
I learned one or two things about Thoreau when I owned a collection of glass-plate photographic negatives made by Herbert Wendell Gleason between 1899 and 1934. Gleason traveled far and wide in North America with his large camera, but his favorite project was illustrating with his photographs what Thoreau wrote about in his journals. The Gleason Collection now resides in the Concord Free Public Library, and many images are online including one of Brister's Hill. One of the arcane bits of "Thoreauviana" that I learned is that most people mispronounce his name. He put the stress on the first syllable -- THOR o -- rather than the Frenchified thor-O (The same thing happened to Ralph LOR-en). Thoreau sometimes signed his letters, "Thoreau-ly yours."
8
In the days before the railroads, much land in the North not being stripped for timber was left waste. It was choked over with brambles and dangerously sharp, often deadly spny growths. Birds and animals, amll creatures like the deer and a few tough large creatures like bears and boose, might make their way through the wild but until the railroads and their corporate developers began to look upon the land as having possibilities, it was mostly left for the animals, the Indians(until they, too drank themselves to death) or others on the frige. As I recall, Walden was not so firercely wild in the time ofThoreau, but was beginning to be reachable by early rail spurs and , though no reglar stations existed there , yet, I believe it was possible to flag down the engineers to hop a ride. AS far as Freeman is concerned, slavery was not part of Massachusetts law by the Revolution. It had, in fact, only existed there , as a result of ignorant locals assuming that what was legal in Carolinas or Virginia must be legal in all the states.(like today's gun owners). This was proved false by the Revolution and there was no more lawful slavery in Massachusetts when it was a state.
As in the South, it was easy to convince uneducated non lawyers that their ignorance of law was so great: unlike a white person's, and that slavery was, in fact, legal. But it wasn't ever in the state of Massachusetts.(even under the Brits)
As in the South, it was easy to convince uneducated non lawyers that their ignorance of law was so great: unlike a white person's, and that slavery was, in fact, legal. But it wasn't ever in the state of Massachusetts.(even under the Brits)
3
"Moose-Indians."
1
Communing with nature is exhilarating. It's in our DNA.
2
"Sell your clothes and keep your thoughts." Easier to do when Thoreau takes his laundry home to his mother every week. Isn't she another of the "nobodies" who surround him and make his sojourn possible? How much women's work is invisible because their work is for their family? How much is Mrs. Thoreau completely overlooked.
7
Thanks for this. HDT is mistakenly seen to be a misanthrope when he's really very connected to people. He is critical fore sure, but his criticisms are valid and his observations brilliant. Terrible misreading to think he doesn't care.
Much amused by number of commenters concerned about who did HDT's laundry. i do my own, but then I didn't write Walden.
Much amused by number of commenters concerned about who did HDT's laundry. i do my own, but then I didn't write Walden.
7
Didn't Thoreau have dinner with the Emersons every Sunday? Far from reclusive, this Thoreau.
2
Even though Thoreau had an aversion to corporal punishment in his tenure as a schoolmaster, I'll bet if he'd caught one the little buggers who'd burnt down one of his poor neighbor's cabins, he'd have left behind as an artifact, a bundle of seasoned willow switches for posterity.
Thoreau is a state of mind.
3
Did Thoreau ever need a dentist or health care?
2
Looking at studies of slave populations you were better of without healthcare and its poisonous medicines For most people dentistry consisted of a string and a doorknob. If you consider that barbaric consider that in NY Prisons they do not fill teeth only extract.
4
You both were there with him, I take it?
2
Thorough. Perhaps, not philosophy, but poetry. It is difficult to write about another person's artwork. Ask Picasso, I am sure he would agree with me. Probably Sylvia Plath too. Maybe there was a mistake at the editor's office so they just let it stay at Thoreau. Or, Henry David did not want to be too obvious. If I was a Harvard Professor, I would have advised: keep-it thorough, don't use accessories, but keep your clothes!
Thorough. Perhaps, not philosophy, but poetry. It is difficult to write about another person's artwork. Ask Picasso, I am sure he would agree with me. Probably Sylvia Plath too. Maybe there was a mistake at the editor's office so they just let it stay at Thoreau. Or, Henry David did not want to be too obvious. If I was a Harvard Professor, I would have advised: keep-it thorough, don't use accessories, but keep your clothes!
Thoreau intuited his own culture, and chose to counteract its potent effect by compelling himself to see what had been rendered invisible, culture's first task.
Next culture arranges the leftovers onto a shared valuation scale, and spins out a simple storyline which answers every question that might occur to a person living at the center of such a simplified universe. Tidy and comforting, but profoundly inaccurate and incomplete.
Thoreau chose reality over simplification, distraction, and inane social competition. By doing so, he achieved both a startling crystalline clarity as to the true dynamics of the natural and human worlds he inhabited but also a rare degree of freedom. He grasped that in order to understand a thing fully a person has to move both closer to the thing and farther away. In order to understand the pleasant Lotus Eater fog of his own genteel Concord society, he withdrew to a strategic distance from it just as a near contemporary, the brilliant, iconoclastic poet Emily Dickinson did. As she tells it, "I and Silence, some strange race, wrecked, solitary here." For both their time and attention were owned by no one.
Contrary to many who laud Thoreau as an avatar of remote, forbidding individualism, he was, as Mr. Kaag writes, a man intimately connected to those many things he chose to see as valuable. As a Thoreau acolyte John Muir later wrote,"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." Just so.
Next culture arranges the leftovers onto a shared valuation scale, and spins out a simple storyline which answers every question that might occur to a person living at the center of such a simplified universe. Tidy and comforting, but profoundly inaccurate and incomplete.
Thoreau chose reality over simplification, distraction, and inane social competition. By doing so, he achieved both a startling crystalline clarity as to the true dynamics of the natural and human worlds he inhabited but also a rare degree of freedom. He grasped that in order to understand a thing fully a person has to move both closer to the thing and farther away. In order to understand the pleasant Lotus Eater fog of his own genteel Concord society, he withdrew to a strategic distance from it just as a near contemporary, the brilliant, iconoclastic poet Emily Dickinson did. As she tells it, "I and Silence, some strange race, wrecked, solitary here." For both their time and attention were owned by no one.
Contrary to many who laud Thoreau as an avatar of remote, forbidding individualism, he was, as Mr. Kaag writes, a man intimately connected to those many things he chose to see as valuable. As a Thoreau acolyte John Muir later wrote,"When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." Just so.
17
This is a beautiful essay. Thank-you for writing it and exposing some of the hidden history of an iconic American place. Despite his supposed isolation, Henry David Thoreau was an engaged human being. Like St. Francis he was engaged with the creatures in the world around him. Like Robert Louis Stevenson he was engaged with his fellow transcendentalists and neighbors, and he chose to witness to the words of the Declaration.
Like Stevenson also, he died early of tuberculosis, a disease that sometimes results from poverty and overcrowding. Our tradition of equality is consistently challenged by the tradition of prejudice, exposed in this account as burning the homes of the marginalized even in the early nineteenth century, even in New England.
Also largely unrecognized is the New York farming communal experiment of John Brown, who gathered black farmers around him. Brown was supported by wealthy abolitionists in his raid on Harper's Ferry, but they remained unscathed, while Brown and his companions, regarded as socially inferior, were hanged.
Like Stevenson also, he died early of tuberculosis, a disease that sometimes results from poverty and overcrowding. Our tradition of equality is consistently challenged by the tradition of prejudice, exposed in this account as burning the homes of the marginalized even in the early nineteenth century, even in New England.
Also largely unrecognized is the New York farming communal experiment of John Brown, who gathered black farmers around him. Brown was supported by wealthy abolitionists in his raid on Harper's Ferry, but they remained unscathed, while Brown and his companions, regarded as socially inferior, were hanged.
9
Thank you for publishing this informative, uplifting essay. It is balm for the soul. It gives me hope for our species in a difficult time where greed seems to be the game that really counts.
10
I remember reading that Thoreau walked every day from his cabin on Waldon to his Aunt's house for lunch. I wonder if that was true? It has always informed my reading of Thoreau when he bashes the hard work of farmers and others to put food on the table. If true, he certainly lived a life of privilege even while writing about deprivation. This article only enhances the image I have of him as a spoiled young man who knew how to write poetically.
5
"To take Thoreau’s example, however, is not simply a matter of appreciating the natural world, of taking careful note of every woodchuck and birch. It also involves looking into the trees, into the near darkness, to discern the hidden, human figures who silently abide there. And slowly disappear."
Is it just me who thinks Trump would be moved to tears by that quote, if it wasn't so long?
Is it just me who thinks Trump would be moved to tears by that quote, if it wasn't so long?
2
Doesn't mention him, so he wouldn't read it.
3
Just you.
2
Good. I lied. Call me Kellyanne...
Excellent, thank you. I learned some things. Appropos of nothing at all- I, having been assigned to read Walden in High School; when my life turned that way, built a very small house in the woods. To try it all out. 40 years later, I still live in it.
It suits me. It didn't suit Thoreau to stay in that life, which I can entirely comprehend. My own life in the woods is little like Thoreaus; I no longer hoe beans (I did for a few years, and found it quite satisfactory.)
We are not hermits either, though quite a few people come here eager to thinks so - oxymoron though that so obviously is. Many also assume we think everyone should live this way. I try to imagine Thoreau's response to them... besides the choked guffaw- my best guess is he would respond with a fairly clearly implied insult- "So, you haven't been listening at all, have you?"
It suits me. It didn't suit Thoreau to stay in that life, which I can entirely comprehend. My own life in the woods is little like Thoreaus; I no longer hoe beans (I did for a few years, and found it quite satisfactory.)
We are not hermits either, though quite a few people come here eager to thinks so - oxymoron though that so obviously is. Many also assume we think everyone should live this way. I try to imagine Thoreau's response to them... besides the choked guffaw- my best guess is he would respond with a fairly clearly implied insult- "So, you haven't been listening at all, have you?"
15
Thoreau had dinner at his parents' house most nights. I would expect that his laundry was done there as well. The Alcott girls liked to come visit Thoreau (demonstrating that his cottage was not at some remote location) and he often made them chop wood for him. Thoreau enjoyed working no more than was absolutely required of him, and minimizing his social interactions at his home and minimizing the comforts there allowed him to do so. He was far from a recluse.
There is a wonderful actor and historian who does (did) a presentation at Walden Pond answering questions as Thoreau and then telling stories about his life. Thoreau's life at the pond was unsettled when the train tracks were build along the opposite side of the pond from where he lived and was even more upset when they began harvesting the ice from the pond. It must have made a huge amount of noise. Kind of fun to picture him waking up to that horrible racket one morning.
There is a wonderful actor and historian who does (did) a presentation at Walden Pond answering questions as Thoreau and then telling stories about his life. Thoreau's life at the pond was unsettled when the train tracks were build along the opposite side of the pond from where he lived and was even more upset when they began harvesting the ice from the pond. It must have made a huge amount of noise. Kind of fun to picture him waking up to that horrible racket one morning.
9
I've read most of Thoreau's works, his books of a naturalist bent are his most honest and useful. "Walden" is a book of fantasy. In an often used passage he counsels people who think up castles in the air to put the foundation under them in one of the most ludicrous pieces of advice I have ever read. He defends selfish living without concrete aims, his writing style is not very disorganized or in keeping with coherent philosophical schools of thought, his contributions are more toward energetic, Indian-style living in the wilds. One of most questionable endorsements was of madman, terrorist, insurrectionist John Brown. "Neurotics build castles in the air, psychotics live in them. My mother cleans them."
5
John Brown:
"Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), -- had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends -- either father, mother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class -- and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.
The court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done -- as I have always freely admitted I have done -- in behalf of His despied poor, was not wrong, but right."
Not the words of a madman.....
"Had I interfered in the manner which I admit, and which I admit has been fairly proved (for I admire the truthfulness and candor of the greater portion of the witnesses who have testified in this case), -- had I so interfered in behalf of the rich, the powerful, the intelligent, the so-called great, or in behalf of any of their friends -- either father, mother, sister, wife, or children, or any of that class -- and suffered and sacrificed what I have in this interference, it would have been all right; and every man in this court would have deemed it an act worthy of reward rather than punishment.
The court acknowledges, as I suppose, the validity of the law of God. I see a book kissed here which I suppose to be the Bible, or at least the New Testament. That teaches me that all things whatsoever I would that men should do to me, I should do even so to them. It teaches me further to "remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them." I endeavored to act up to that instruction. I say, I am too young to understand that God is any respecter of persons. I believe that to have interfered as I have done -- as I have always freely admitted I have done -- in behalf of His despied poor, was not wrong, but right."
Not the words of a madman.....
8
Doesn't sound much different from our local parks that house homeless men in hidden shanties or our national forests with their pot plantations and survivalist huts. Wilderness has always been in the eye of the beholder.
3
Good essay. Thoreau is often seen as a caricature, as are many historical figures. But, he was, like most everyone, very complex. Just his relationship with Emerson and his family was complex with enough implicit drama for a movie. He has a chapter in Walden entitled "Visitors," and the book is full of his conversations and interactions. It was not far from the village and he could go "home" or to the Emersons or other friends any time he wanted.
He has a whole chapter in Walden on his visitors and he lived quite near Concord to go there all the time.
He has a whole chapter in Walden on his visitors and he lived quite near Concord to go there all the time.
3
As someone who lived for 9 years “off the grid” on 30 acres of woods in a small cabin—12’ by 16’ feet, which is only a little bigger than Thoreau’s—that I build myself with hand tools, I discovered that living off the grid without electricity, plumbing or central heating also enforced a degree of physical simplicity upon me that soon aligned my Quaker faith with my day-to-day practice, and gave me a personal understanding, so well stated in the Shaker hymn also adopted by Quakers, of why it is "a gift to be simple.” It’s a gift to be free.
26
question for DRC- who lived off the grid for 9 years in a cabin he built-
What made you leave the grid in the first place? & why did you leave your isolated small cabin after 9 years ?
and how did you survive in those 9 years (heat, water, food, etc.) & what year was this?
lastly, how was it when you "re-entered" civilization (I use the term loosely )
What made you leave the grid in the first place? & why did you leave your isolated small cabin after 9 years ?
and how did you survive in those 9 years (heat, water, food, etc.) & what year was this?
lastly, how was it when you "re-entered" civilization (I use the term loosely )
...and simply connected by the ATT.
--"Today, Walden is preserved as a national park...."
No, Walden Pond inside Massachusett's Walden Pond State Reservation has been designated a National Historic Landmark but is not a US national park. Also, it is not preserved as in the time of Thoreau but has a popular swimming area.
No, Walden Pond inside Massachusett's Walden Pond State Reservation has been designated a National Historic Landmark but is not a US national park. Also, it is not preserved as in the time of Thoreau but has a popular swimming area.
11
Thoreau was no explorer. He was a writer of some of the most beautiful prose ever written in English, a lover and poet of nature, and an incisive critic of materialism and the blind worship of technological change for its own sake.
Walden exudes wisdom for today. Anyone with a child who wastes his or her life on Facebook can understand this.
Walden exudes wisdom for today. Anyone with a child who wastes his or her life on Facebook can understand this.
5
Very thoughtful and moving op-ed. I enjoy it when the NYT takes a (mostly) non-political turn and gifts us something like this. Thoreau is a great figure in American history. Yes he was imperfect (aren't we all?). Thoreau was surrounded by nature in his solace but also by humans that his country otherwise rejected. But being a man of humanity he embraced them to an extent and befriended some of them. Thanks to scholars like this we can take another look at history-- a history that often buries its victims in the sands of time. As a result we are better able to understand the past and commit to a more just future.
6
Like others who read Walden in my high school and college days, I was impressed by the simplicity of living that Thoreau proclaims. However, Thoreau frequented the Emerson’s dinner table and other civilized and upscale venues that Concord then offered. His “experiment” in simple living only lasted a couple of years, before he left to live a relatively comfortable life at the Emersons for a time and to work in his family’s pencil factory. We owe Thoreau the graphite pencil that continues to be used by some of us.
Thoreau also influenced Helen and Scott Nearing and the “back to the soil” individuals of the 1960s. The Nearings failed to mention that they had outside income to support their simple life—which was not as simple as they professed. And all those 1960s individuals who followed Thoreau’s and the Nearings’, what happened to them? Most of them joined corporate society after some months or a couple years of attempting to live a simple life. Very few of them had the will or disposition for the hard work required to live simply.
Nor did Thoreau. Community and commercial society always wins in the end. Yet Thoreau’s experiment remains an ideal, even if only lived out in the mental recesses of one’s mind.
Thoreau also influenced Helen and Scott Nearing and the “back to the soil” individuals of the 1960s. The Nearings failed to mention that they had outside income to support their simple life—which was not as simple as they professed. And all those 1960s individuals who followed Thoreau’s and the Nearings’, what happened to them? Most of them joined corporate society after some months or a couple years of attempting to live a simple life. Very few of them had the will or disposition for the hard work required to live simply.
Nor did Thoreau. Community and commercial society always wins in the end. Yet Thoreau’s experiment remains an ideal, even if only lived out in the mental recesses of one’s mind.
4
I love the long arch from Hinduism and Buddhism to Thoreau and Emerson and even to William Jame's Varieties of Religious Experience and Pragmatism and Emily Dickinson's clear observations. Thoreau and Walt Whitman did dig into human life and saw that everyone is related and not separate from nature.
We as Americans can give thanks to these Founders, who are just as important, maybe more so, than the authors of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Those Founders had mixed motives of property, slavery and genocide to expand their control. The Transcendentalists had better things in mind.
We as Americans can give thanks to these Founders, who are just as important, maybe more so, than the authors of the Declaration of Independence and Constitution. Those Founders had mixed motives of property, slavery and genocide to expand their control. The Transcendentalists had better things in mind.
6
I recently read "The Maine Woods." In a world full of controversy over climate change and the deterioration of the natural world, it is well worth reading.
8
I grew up within walking distance of Walden Pond and, even when I was a kid I viewed Thoreau as a bit of a fraud. The center of Concord was an established town at the time he was supposedly "roughing it" and, as anyone who has visited Walden can tell you... It is no more than a ten minute walk from Walden Pond to downtown Concord... And in Thoreau's day he didn't have to worry about being turned into roadkill on Route 2. :)
27
I don't think Thoreau ever portrayed himself as "roughing it;" I think that description was concocted by people who didn't give "Walden" a careful reading.
He freely admitted to the presence of his neighbors, his visitors, the nearby railroad and his proximity to the town. His year in the cabin was an exercise in simple living, but he acknowledged that he was not entirely self-sufficient.
He freely admitted to the presence of his neighbors, his visitors, the nearby railroad and his proximity to the town. His year in the cabin was an exercise in simple living, but he acknowledged that he was not entirely self-sufficient.
11
Oh well. As a kid you had this great insight. It's just my opinion, but maybe you missed the point of his writings. That part of Massachusetts has been pretty thoroughly used up and had been highly exploited by the 1840s, so of course he was not living in wilderness. My guess is you got out of his writings what you wanted.
2
Thoreau neither stated nor implied that he was "roughing it." The reason he gave for going to the woods was: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
6
Had Thoreau written of his neighbors he would have done them no favors, for their existence, possibly Freeman's, could have been jeopardized by any public notice. Better for them the safety of anonymity.
7
Just a simple thank you: I love this.
10
To take Thoreau's example is also to appreciate his humor: When he showed Emerson the financial summary of his adventures at Walden Pond, Emerson asked why there were no expenses included for Thoreau's dinners. "Because I always dined with neighbors," he replied. "Did you not feel an obligation to reciprocate?" asked Emerson. "My conversation was reciprocation enough," replied Thoreau.
24
Thoreau took his laundry to his mother's for her to do it weekly.
Hardly self-sufficient. Look it up.
Hardly self-sufficient. Look it up.
4
Interesting article concerning his so-called hypocrisy: https://thegazine.wordpress.com/2013/05/20/no-thoreau-was-not-a-hypocrite/
What an eye-opening piece this is: connecting Thoreau to Ellison. Thank you, Professors Kaag and Martin. I hope to read the Wall book.
4
Eloquent writing. Timely in the sense that we are seeing such a great (and relatively new) disparity between the very rich and the rest of us. The "invisible" 99% should have a theme sentence that would read "most men lead lives of quiet desperation".
7
When I was younger, I was captivated by the romance of Thoreau's life in the woods. AS I grew older, and a bit more cynical, I realized that Thoreau did not live a simple, austere life in the wilderness. The clues are throughout "Walden," references to dining on the strength of his "eccentricity," his casual employment in the family business, the stream of urban visitors to his cabin in the woods all point to not to a hermit communing with nature, but to a philosopher living single, just outside of town. One huge point always seems to escape folks commenting on Thoreau's austere, simple life. While he did not live a luxurious or obviously privileged life, given the nature of domestic life of his times, he was living at most a notch below the average 1840's middle class household. In the 1840s, a "state of the art" home entertainment system was a musical instrument, a few books, and an oil lamp. The modern equivalent to his primitive life in the woods is the "hard cabins" at various US National Parks.
13
The piece is interesting but includes a flagrant historical error.
The phrase "like so many Irish near slaves" demonstrates a failure to understand the historical experience of slavery or the definition of the word itself. I assume this is based on an unreflective acceptance of propaganda that spreads about Irish-American "slaves" to advance narrow political points.
But no reputable historian that I know of utilizes this phrasing. And the differences between slavery and other forms of coerced or unequal labor were obvious to participants even if some times politicians obscured the difference to score political points. Certainly the gap between actual slaves and poor people would have been obvious to the people around Walden.
It is too bad that an otherwise thoughtful column and series includes such a grotesque and obvious error, and one that has such pernicious effects in contemporary discourse.
The phrase "like so many Irish near slaves" demonstrates a failure to understand the historical experience of slavery or the definition of the word itself. I assume this is based on an unreflective acceptance of propaganda that spreads about Irish-American "slaves" to advance narrow political points.
But no reputable historian that I know of utilizes this phrasing. And the differences between slavery and other forms of coerced or unequal labor were obvious to participants even if some times politicians obscured the difference to score political points. Certainly the gap between actual slaves and poor people would have been obvious to the people around Walden.
It is too bad that an otherwise thoughtful column and series includes such a grotesque and obvious error, and one that has such pernicious effects in contemporary discourse.
11
Based on your assessment, there are not many reputable historians. To an Irish "near slave", indebted and shunned from higher order commerce, given disadvantageous terms of work with severely limited prospects for any education, the unwashed laborer and his kin could be deprived of their freedom in the debtor's prison, have their children taken away (or more frequently, face the necessity of abandoning their children to providence). The case of the Caucasian lower classes was certainly a different type of exploitation: not a paternalistic system of racial slavery where owners had legal obligations to their slaves (even if ignored), but instead it could be maintained with 100% antagonism. African slaves were demeaned by being regarded as inherently inferior. But the ostracism, isolation, and attempt at obliteration faced by the Irish, Italians, Catholics, and Jews was no less based on dehumanizing them in the minds of their oppressors. Legally, one could not kill your slave, as a right of ownership, any more than one could lynch an Irishman, yet both were done. A "reputable historian" should consider that fact. And while the African could not hide his skin, neither was the typical a labourer capable of concealing the condition of his cultural "inferiority".
14
I must disagree.
Slavery has always taken many forms. The Classical Greeks often worked their field slaves to death every year and then went out raiding for new slaves the next year. On the other hand, in the years leading up to our Civil War skilled and talented slaves were sometimes set up by their owners as independent craftsmen. Of course their owners took a large share of the profits. But still, they were respected members of the community.
My own people were serfs in Europe. They weren't "owned" but they were treated as such. AND expected to fight and die in their masters feuds and wars.
To insist that the definition of "slave" is limited to the experience of pre-Emancipation African chattel slaves in America is narrow minded and denies the experience of the ancestors of the rest of us. History is strange. It never fits in the little boxes that people are so fond of.
Slavery has always taken many forms. The Classical Greeks often worked their field slaves to death every year and then went out raiding for new slaves the next year. On the other hand, in the years leading up to our Civil War skilled and talented slaves were sometimes set up by their owners as independent craftsmen. Of course their owners took a large share of the profits. But still, they were respected members of the community.
My own people were serfs in Europe. They weren't "owned" but they were treated as such. AND expected to fight and die in their masters feuds and wars.
To insist that the definition of "slave" is limited to the experience of pre-Emancipation African chattel slaves in America is narrow minded and denies the experience of the ancestors of the rest of us. History is strange. It never fits in the little boxes that people are so fond of.
Excellent thank you. You might have also mentioned Jesus's observation that it is harder for a rich man to go to heaven than for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle.
4
Love this, thank you. When I read the "Invisible Man" paragraphs it struck a chord. Whenever I go back to New York City I consciously make a point to ask an "Invisible Person" directions whether I need them or not. I am always rewarded with great enthusiasm and faces full of gratuity that someone has "seen" them and their existence counts. There are oodles of small gestures that we have the opportunity to make every single day if we stop the selfish noise in our heads and open our eyes. I call this simply "paying attention".
20
"As long as a man stands in his own way, everything seems to be in his way,--government, society, & even the sun & moon & stars, as astrology may testify."
Henry David Thoreau --as quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Make it easy on yourself. Vote a straight ticket for righteousness & preservation of the earth, remembering that one's neighbor can be as misguided in his dreams of "respectability" as his need of sustenance demands our forbearance & empathy.
Henry David Thoreau --as quoted by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Make it easy on yourself. Vote a straight ticket for righteousness & preservation of the earth, remembering that one's neighbor can be as misguided in his dreams of "respectability" as his need of sustenance demands our forbearance & empathy.
4
A well written piece, thank you.
Once need not travel to Walden Pond or other exotic locales to see outcasts. Walk down the streets of your city. Look at the homeless, perhaps for the first time, see them. Each one has a story, some of heartache, some of bad choices, some of bad luck. Be aware that even among this group there are those you do not see, homeless children, a potentially large uncounted group, hide in the shadows of even the homeless, because they are prey.
Homeless children are preyed upon by the homeless, the shelters, gangs, cops, almost everyone, for no other reason than because they can. An informal survey done several years ago here in San Diego found that among homeless children 100% of the girls and 80% of the boys had traded sex for food and shelter. With results like this, it was of course, never published.
As the authors so eloquently point out, you can wake up at any time. You do not have to go anywhere to do so. You can begin to make a difference right where you are. Perhaps that would not be a bad legacy, to be a force for good in a chaotic world, even if it is in only one small part of that world.
"Be The Change You Wish To See In The World."
Once need not travel to Walden Pond or other exotic locales to see outcasts. Walk down the streets of your city. Look at the homeless, perhaps for the first time, see them. Each one has a story, some of heartache, some of bad choices, some of bad luck. Be aware that even among this group there are those you do not see, homeless children, a potentially large uncounted group, hide in the shadows of even the homeless, because they are prey.
Homeless children are preyed upon by the homeless, the shelters, gangs, cops, almost everyone, for no other reason than because they can. An informal survey done several years ago here in San Diego found that among homeless children 100% of the girls and 80% of the boys had traded sex for food and shelter. With results like this, it was of course, never published.
As the authors so eloquently point out, you can wake up at any time. You do not have to go anywhere to do so. You can begin to make a difference right where you are. Perhaps that would not be a bad legacy, to be a force for good in a chaotic world, even if it is in only one small part of that world.
"Be The Change You Wish To See In The World."
15
I've been skeptical of Thoreau since I heard the story, perhaps apocryphal, that he sent out his laundry for his mother to do while he was out at the pond.
5
He was at the pond for limited periods, since he was needed in town to keep up his surveying work and to help his aging parents with their two businesses: boarding house and pencil factory. The house at Walden was a getaway, a writerly lab. It's a tribute to Thoreau's powers as a writer that so many of us want to imagine him in magnificent isolation in nature, or even retreating to Concord's borderlands to join other isolatoes and birds of passage, but the book is designed as a fable. Read it as such.
7
I'm sure many of you will think I'm facetious, but at 75 I know what I'm talking about when I say that Thoreau fits my personal image of a most apt and genuine "hippie," a word that suggests disdain in these faster "hipper" times, and which unfortunately suggests that the young people of the 60s who read Thoreau and Whitman were forever misguided, when so many of course were not.
9
"My townsmen have all heard the tradition, the oldest people tell me that they heard it in their youth, that anciently the Indians were holding a pow-wow upon a hill here, which rose as high into the heavens as the pond now sinks deep into the earth, and they used much profanity, as the story goes, though this vice is one of which the Indians were never guilty, and while they were thus engaged the hill shook and suddenly sank, and only one old squaw, named Walden, escaped, and from her the pond was named."
I am curious as to where the good professors think that this infinite regress of victimhood ends?
I am curious as to where the good professors think that this infinite regress of victimhood ends?
2
I'm not sure what you're suggesting, SteveRR, but if it's that Thoreau bought this "tradition," you should probably read the passage again.
1
I understand that his sister did his laundry for him
24
An old canard, with no evidence to support it, but strangely beloved of lazy and/or snarky readers. If anything, he probably did HER laundry, since they were the last surviving adult children of working-class parents who ran a boarding-house with limited outside help, and commercial domestic laundry in antebellum days was hard, hot, heavy labor, requiring strong young backs.
4
It was his mother actually according to many articles I've come across. She also cooked for him according to many accounts. I don't think roughing it was the point as much as what he considered "solitude" which, for him, it seems, was being away for a period of time from his family home. As a woman, I was disappointed too. I never have had anyone in the wings doing the hard tasks while I enjoyed solitude.
8
Mostly to rifle through his austerely lined pockets but based on his writings, not very often.
I never read Walden Pond in my 60s high school classes. What a shame! I was just thinking that I should be doing something constructive, walk the dog, pay bills rather than surfing through the Times and wasting time. Then I came across this gem.
This is my gift from Profesdor Kaag and the rest of the profound comments on this thread. Buoy have all reminded me what is most precious in this world.
Merci, gracias, thank you
This is my gift from Profesdor Kaag and the rest of the profound comments on this thread. Buoy have all reminded me what is most precious in this world.
Merci, gracias, thank you
13
We often consider American consumerism as a consequence of twentieth-century advertising and mass production, so it's always a little startling to be reminded of the fierce critique of consumerism that is central to _Walden_. Mindless, grasping purchases; chasing after fashion and trend curves; disposing last year's superior model for anything new. How perfect to read this on Amazon primeday!
14
Donald Trump is a Thoreauvian "Sleepwalker."
9
You're catching a ride on someone else's original thought. That's lazy rhetoric.
1
All the greatest writers and artists have done that forever. There a very few truly original thinkers in the world-and I emphasize "very few." I have forgotten who said "imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."
I recently reread "Walden". Thoreau still strikes me as much more akin to Rand Paul than Mahatma Gandhi.
4
Nice piece, admirably handling mistaken notions of Thoreau's Walden venture and Thoreau's relation to the 'Invisible' there, without succumbing to the too typical revisionist temptation to beat on dead white men, to applause, for having the temerity to be born white, male and privileged in another time. The project of rigorous, lived experiential interrogation of one's self and one's society is not invalidated by the inevitable partially blinding circumstances in which it must be undertaken. Doubt, self-doubt, is the foundational "negative" gesture of Thought in the largest sense, without which only competing dogmas are possible.
5
I look forward to what appears to be an excellent new biography, praised by no less an authority than Robert D. Richardson. But John Kaag is simply being polite when he says, "It is easy enough to fall into the impression that Thoreau was the only person at Walden." It is easy indeed: all one has to to is to fail to read the book.
6
Mr. Richardson is also a sage and great man of letters.
His writings have connected and furthered the transcendentalists into our current era and helped keep alive that conscience.
His writings have connected and furthered the transcendentalists into our current era and helped keep alive that conscience.
3
What a wonderful article! I hope to read Wall's book. I have to agree that we are blind to people who work around us who are real. Last Summer several workmen were digging ditches for a cable to be laid in severe heat. No one passed to see if they were ok or needed water. In affluent neighborhoods people have no hearts!
4
Plight of a modern day Thoreau?
He would be punished, silenced, censored. A modern day Thoreau would promote the virtues of the old Thoreau, but be astonished and horrified at the overpopulation, mass consumption, environmental destruction of modern times. The new Thoreau would probably be criticized as the old Thoreau is now fashionably criticized,--as a white, privileged hypocrite, a person who played at living in the woods simply while often going back to his mother's, and who really had little regard for anyone other than himself--but he would be criticized even more mercilessly because he would observe that our current horrifying circumstance exists not only because of the wealthy over the past couple hundred years indulging themselves and misusing technology but because we have uplifted so many of the poor to this exact same condition.
In short, a modern Thoreau would be accused of even greater heartlessness and misanthropy than the old Thoreau, he would be disgusted at so many overpaid, over consuming wealthy and disgusted at the poor who apparently are good for little but wanting to emulate them. He would probably conclude totalitarianism is inevitable, vast technological/internet surveillance and control of the masses period, control by merely the wealthiest, most political and economically connected, and that a pure technological solution to the problem will be sought, and that the last person to have any kind of voice in society would be Henry David Thoreau.
He would be punished, silenced, censored. A modern day Thoreau would promote the virtues of the old Thoreau, but be astonished and horrified at the overpopulation, mass consumption, environmental destruction of modern times. The new Thoreau would probably be criticized as the old Thoreau is now fashionably criticized,--as a white, privileged hypocrite, a person who played at living in the woods simply while often going back to his mother's, and who really had little regard for anyone other than himself--but he would be criticized even more mercilessly because he would observe that our current horrifying circumstance exists not only because of the wealthy over the past couple hundred years indulging themselves and misusing technology but because we have uplifted so many of the poor to this exact same condition.
In short, a modern Thoreau would be accused of even greater heartlessness and misanthropy than the old Thoreau, he would be disgusted at so many overpaid, over consuming wealthy and disgusted at the poor who apparently are good for little but wanting to emulate them. He would probably conclude totalitarianism is inevitable, vast technological/internet surveillance and control of the masses period, control by merely the wealthiest, most political and economically connected, and that a pure technological solution to the problem will be sought, and that the last person to have any kind of voice in society would be Henry David Thoreau.
14
Wonderful essay. Thank you.
As an avid walker I've often seen similar things in the little woods and forgotten lots that dot my urban landscape. I wouldn't dream of revealing any details, though, because these people would be rousted, probably arrested if the police ever knew. I'm heartened to think that there are others, dog walkers, surveyors, tree surgeons who also notice and also keep it to themselves.
As an avid walker I've often seen similar things in the little woods and forgotten lots that dot my urban landscape. I wouldn't dream of revealing any details, though, because these people would be rousted, probably arrested if the police ever knew. I'm heartened to think that there are others, dog walkers, surveyors, tree surgeons who also notice and also keep it to themselves.
7
Ah, thanks for the reminder not to get so lost in the stuff to which I have to some degree, become a prisoner as its caretaker. Still, philosophically I believe I am as intrinsically connected to my surroundings in the middle of my stuff as I am to nature. I am a part of nature and my stuff is as much a part of nature as the twigs in an anthill, but because my stuff does more damage to the earth than the twigs of an anthill, in today's world, my greatest concern needs to be how keep my stuff from doing damage to our fragile planet.
5
To understand Thoreau's own perspective toward contemporary racism and injustice, read his plea for Captain John Brown. Perhaps it was inspired in part by his concern for the plight of his neighbors:
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Plea_for_Captain_John_Brown
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/A_Plea_for_Captain_John_Brown
5
Wow! I'll buy Wall's book. I got enough stuff all right, and I am "successful". Ralph Waldo Emerson could have said it quite well (this well known quote is attributed to him but scholars could not find it in his papers...). Just in case you've not read it yet:
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to live the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
Thank you Gentlemen, this was a most beautiful and interesting piece. Please write more.
"To laugh often and much; to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of children; to earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends; to appreciate beauty, to find the best in others; to live the world a bit better, whether by a healthy child, a garden patch or a redeemed social condition; to know even one life has breathed easier because you have lived. This is to have succeeded."
Thank you Gentlemen, this was a most beautiful and interesting piece. Please write more.
36
This is by far the best article I have read in The Stone for a long time. It clarifies the historical record by drawing out lesser known facts and inviting the reader to change their perception of the whole. For once, blessedly, I don't feel that I'm being preached at by some short-focus moralizer.
31
Certainly nothing new here. We have known this for decades; Thoreau never pretended otherwise. His Walden Pond, as a work of art, is philosophical and metaphorical, not literal -- though Thoreau was certainly a close observer of his natural and human world. Still, every generation has to learn on its own --
5
This acutely perceptive piece by Professors Kaag and Martin transforms Walden Pond into a parable that can be used to describe the modern megacities that have come to dominate the demographic landscapes of Latin America, Asia and Africa. In such places, outside the modern areas of stores, shopping malls, restaurants and residential and business high-rises, there exist miles and miles of shantytowns. Some crawl up luscious mountains such as in Rio de Janeiro and Medellin. Others sprawl deep into the desert, such as in Lima. Here the people are outcast; they are invisible like the inhabitants of Walden Pond.
Here the development and international relief organization professionals set up shop -a bit like Thoreau himself. They live among the rutted, garbage strewn paths that pass for roads, shopping in makeshift farmers markets while renouncing the more comfortable existence available in the nicer sections of the capital. They feel like saints. Life slows down. It is boiled to its essence. They write books about the challenges of development in the Third World. They even make visible one or two of the Invisible people whose life stories are presented as case studies.
Thoreau focused on the natural world. As a person, Thoreau sought to help out his invisible neighbors while still keeping them mostly invisible in his writings. This is the first time I've viewed his writings and the idea of Walden in this light. It is illuminating.
Here the development and international relief organization professionals set up shop -a bit like Thoreau himself. They live among the rutted, garbage strewn paths that pass for roads, shopping in makeshift farmers markets while renouncing the more comfortable existence available in the nicer sections of the capital. They feel like saints. Life slows down. It is boiled to its essence. They write books about the challenges of development in the Third World. They even make visible one or two of the Invisible people whose life stories are presented as case studies.
Thoreau focused on the natural world. As a person, Thoreau sought to help out his invisible neighbors while still keeping them mostly invisible in his writings. This is the first time I've viewed his writings and the idea of Walden in this light. It is illuminating.
18
Subsistence agriculture has allowed people to maintain a relationship to the land very different from the labor capital relation- increasingly dominant in today's society and even in the land of previously agricultural societies. Owning the land and tools to work on it, allow for the independence of private individuals. Many Europeans immigrants were able to do that until the end of the 19thy century, when agribusiness took firm hold of the Midwest and previous small land owners and holders were forced to sell their labor capacity in the big cities to stay alive. Then, the property less had no other option as the Western expansion had already been completed. Thoreau was born at the right time.
2
Yes! While at Walden and during the rest of his life (which encompassed so much more than his time at Walden), Thoreau was a central figure among townfolk, a favorite among children, a cutter of the town Christmas tree, a sought-after surveyor, a loving and attentive son and brother, and the friend who planted a garden at the Old Manse as a wedding gift for Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne. This was no hermit, and it is too bad it has taken until his 200th birthday for that misinterpretation to be revised in enough places—and with enough print—to (perhaps) alter people's perceptions of this American treasure.
13
It is a miracle. Finally, an acknowledgement that Walden Pond was not out beyond. There were real people out there.
I wonder if high school students will actually benefit from this earth shaking development. May "Walden Pond" now join the play 'The Crucible" in the realm of misinterpreted stories.
I wonder if high school students will actually benefit from this earth shaking development. May "Walden Pond" now join the play 'The Crucible" in the realm of misinterpreted stories.
18
There are striking similarities between Thoreau and Gandhi. Both had renounced the material comforts of modern life and instead chose a hermit like austere life without ignoring their commitment to society and public good. Though not under compulsion yet they both lived on the margins of society: Thoreau in the wilderness of Walden Woods, and Gandhi in Ashrams like Sabarmati in India or the Tolstoy Farm in South Africa. They both viewed life in holistic terms, emphasising a symbiotic relationship between the humans and nature. It was Thoreau who had inspired Gandhi to appreciate the value of bread labour, finding work as the medium of self-expression. In their own ways, they offered a powerful critique of modern civilisation, specially its degrading and exploitative aspects, yet always welcomed the true liberating influence of modernity. Last but not least, they both had deep faith in humanity and civilisational progress.
45
Yes. Gandhi called Thoreau his 'teacher' on civil disobedience.
3
Over 50 years ago, one of my favorite teachers taught Walden, her favorite book, to my honors US literature class. The book and the ensuing lively class discussion made a lasting impression on me. After reading this insightful piece, I can only wonder how being able to read Black Walden (published in 2009) alongside Walden would have enhanced our discussion and our understanding. I hope today's teachers include the backstory of Walden's other residents when teaching Walden to their students.
48
Yes. Tenth grade American Lit was where I discovered Walden. Taught by the best teacher I ever had. Life altering for me. Visiting Walden Pond is really visiting a shrine to sanity. I recommend it highly.
19
The only but I believe vital and valid criticism of the article I want to make: Americans fail to realise that there was history in the Americas long before white or black man ever touched the ground red people were walking on. Right at the beginning you mention the "original inhabitants" but you do not talk about "Indians". As long as even American intellectuals keep forgetting the true "aborigines" of their "home"land they will not overcome the psychological implications of suppressing the terrible and harsh realities of the deeds of their ancestors. This is one of the reasons why the USA is truly a "failed state" in the eyes of many impartial observers.
We Germans had to learn this lesson - and yet are still haunted by the demon of Nazi-Germany even three generations after the end of the 2nd world war. And probabaly will be haunted for some generations more.
We Germans had to learn this lesson - and yet are still haunted by the demon of Nazi-Germany even three generations after the end of the 2nd world war. And probabaly will be haunted for some generations more.
48
We still ignore those who are suffering on Reservations coast to coast. They are an invisible people to most Americans today. In this newspaper it is ALL about the recent immigrants and refugees only. Not a peep about the condition(s) of our First Nation population or their current situation and struggles.
It's a very interesting contrast in who is considered important in today's society.
I have never understood why the plight of our indigenous inhabitants is so overlooked and dismissed by those at the top. It's beyond shameful.
It's a very interesting contrast in who is considered important in today's society.
I have never understood why the plight of our indigenous inhabitants is so overlooked and dismissed by those at the top. It's beyond shameful.
6
At the Great Spirit Cashiers request, oral recitation of ancient narratives have been suspended during business hours of all sacred roadside casinos.
The thing is....the real fact of the matter is...Kaag and Martin speak truth. Transformation is a very real, and mind-blowing, reality. It cannot be bought on the free market nor can it be copy-catted from church archives. Do not look for it in religion. It takes a person brave enough to walk away from religion to walk right into transformation while looking at something else. But then you know, you see, like Peter, James and John at the Transfiguration that "it is good for us to be here." Yes.
5
THOREAU'S Omitted mention of the non-persons he found at Walden Pond. Since their very existence was based on their ability to hide at the outskirts of a civilized place that would persecute and perhaps kill them. It is passingly strange that the idealized vision Thoreau gives us of Walden Pond omitted mention of his fellow humans who struggled to hide and exist alongside him. But from this account, Thoreau's neighbors were, constitutionally, nonpersons. So technically they did not have the same rights he had. Once again we see the occurrence of history having been written by the winners, power elite and dead white men.
20
May I suggest that you check back through your copy of Walden. Thoreau often mentions his neighbors and visitors if only to contrast his way of life and thought with theirs.
13
Cal French is correct. To learn more about the making of Walden (and also just how non-elite Thoreau was in his day, and how endangered he is in ours) try an excellent article in the current issue of The American Scholar ("Reading Thoreau at 200") by Thoreau scholar Will Howarth of Princeton.
4
Moralistic writers are not bound to make every effort an encyclopedia of human ills. Sinclair's, "The Jungle,"
focused on one societal issue: the perils of industrialization. Perhaps "Walden" had its singular focus as well. Thoreau's "Slavery in Massachusetts" had a very different focus that says much about this "dead white man."
focused on one societal issue: the perils of industrialization. Perhaps "Walden" had its singular focus as well. Thoreau's "Slavery in Massachusetts" had a very different focus that says much about this "dead white man."
16
The simple life is not so simple. It may be a nice little jaunt or vacation, as long as you can afford it. As in, a back up plan, and funds.
14
In the end we will all be judged, not by what we have acquired, but by what we have given away freely. We all have gifts, the wise share them, not hide them. This may not change the world but can bring meaning to life.
19
Lovely. Thank you.
1
I've read "Walden" several times. Thank you, Professors Kaag and Martin, for adding to my understanding of Thoreau. It is wonderful to learn something new about a man I admire.
12
Dear Professor Kaag,
The profound and lovely surprises in the realm of The Stone are few and far between, as indeed all profoundly lovely things must be, but this essay is one of those surprises, echoing the wisdom of a man long dead, gently scorching a modern collective conscience all but closed off to the horrors and hardships past, present, and future, and firmly reminding us that being human not only isn't easy, it rarely even happens, most of us choosing clamor over clarity, malice over solace, avarice over justice.
Thank you for interrupting our sleepwalking, even if only for a moment.
Cordially,
S.A. Traina
The profound and lovely surprises in the realm of The Stone are few and far between, as indeed all profoundly lovely things must be, but this essay is one of those surprises, echoing the wisdom of a man long dead, gently scorching a modern collective conscience all but closed off to the horrors and hardships past, present, and future, and firmly reminding us that being human not only isn't easy, it rarely even happens, most of us choosing clamor over clarity, malice over solace, avarice over justice.
Thank you for interrupting our sleepwalking, even if only for a moment.
Cordially,
S.A. Traina
106
You have made him your own unoptimistic ball and chain.
I love this! Thank you. For me, the "take home" message is to live simply and deliberately so we can attend to what's most important in our brief foray on this earth. We are all on this journey together, and something tells me we're all "in this" together. The "invisibles" not only matter, but have more to teach us than we realize.
16
So often, lost in our 'things' and our 'stuff' the invisible remain unseen, struggling in their darkness. Shame on us. We need to 'live more deliberately' bringing light and hope to our struggling brethren.
8
Just for the sake of accuracy, Walden Pond is not a National Park, as stated in the article. While it was designated as a National Historic Site, it is administered by the state of Massachusetts as part of its park system.
54
You are basically right. It is not under the jurisdiction of the National Park Service, but neither it is a National Historic Site (in which case it would be). It is a National Historic Landmark, a designation bestowed by NPS that applies to hundreds of places around the country, under all kinds of ownership, most of which are not administered by NPS. As you say, it's a Massachusetts State Reservation.
6
This article makes some good points, but there are a lot of embarrassing platitudes about “tree hugging,” white man’s privilege and “appreciating the natural world,” as if those things had to be defended. Thoreau, Like William Wordsworth, was no more blind to rural poverty and exclusion than he was to the flora imprisoned in the depths of the Walden ice he described so magically. Those who treat nature solely as a business opportunity will never treat their fellow man any differently.
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Thoreau today?
It appears fashionable today to denounce Thoreau as a rich, white, privileged person playing at self-reliance and simple living in the forest while thousands of poor actually perished leading simple lives and that while Thoreau was yes, an example of simple living for our modern age of overpopulation, overconsumption and environmental degradation, we should not forget the poor who walked the walk more than Thoreau ever did and even perished in their simple lives.
But I would say our human problem is much more serious and revealed in fact by our current criticisms of Thoreau: We still believe in progress, which is to say we believe with the current crop of humans that overpopulation, overconsumption, something closer to simple living can exist and that we can upraise the poor as well. We criticize Thoreau but still believe in something of a more fleshed out Thoreau for us all: One less wealthy, more fair, environmentally concerned, and helpful to the poor.
But it appears to me both poor and rich have failed: The wealthy are often overpaid, over consuming fools and the poor would just like to emulate them and that perhaps as little as 5% of current humans have the intellect, discipline, morality to not only practice Thoreau coupled with advancement in technology, the rest of humanity by precisely these lack of qualities will just progress to a vulgar life of plenty no matter whether they are now rich or poor. In essence our salvation is just our Thoreaus.
It appears fashionable today to denounce Thoreau as a rich, white, privileged person playing at self-reliance and simple living in the forest while thousands of poor actually perished leading simple lives and that while Thoreau was yes, an example of simple living for our modern age of overpopulation, overconsumption and environmental degradation, we should not forget the poor who walked the walk more than Thoreau ever did and even perished in their simple lives.
But I would say our human problem is much more serious and revealed in fact by our current criticisms of Thoreau: We still believe in progress, which is to say we believe with the current crop of humans that overpopulation, overconsumption, something closer to simple living can exist and that we can upraise the poor as well. We criticize Thoreau but still believe in something of a more fleshed out Thoreau for us all: One less wealthy, more fair, environmentally concerned, and helpful to the poor.
But it appears to me both poor and rich have failed: The wealthy are often overpaid, over consuming fools and the poor would just like to emulate them and that perhaps as little as 5% of current humans have the intellect, discipline, morality to not only practice Thoreau coupled with advancement in technology, the rest of humanity by precisely these lack of qualities will just progress to a vulgar life of plenty no matter whether they are now rich or poor. In essence our salvation is just our Thoreaus.
22
While Thoreau lived at Walden Pond for a good while, he was only a mile from Concord and still communicated with family and neighbors. When he died, there was real grief on the part also of his friends. That's important to remember -- that Thoreau was very much a man who loved Concord and its people.
18
This year for my birthday, my dear daughter-in-law treated me to a rare and amazing chance to hold and review an original handwritten copy of Walden. What a thrill it was! Also, to hold Emerson's actual eulogy for Thoreau.
She was working as a curator at The Huntington Library in Southern California at the time and knew of my love for HDT and his writings.
She was working as a curator at The Huntington Library in Southern California at the time and knew of my love for HDT and his writings.
3
Waldon pond is 2 miles from Concird.
He lived there for two years, two months, and two days. I'm not sure that constitutes "a good while," especially given that he was not all that isolated from the town. I lived just half a block less than two miles from my high school and walked to and from school most days.
1
I value the contribution this article makes to our self-understanding. My only reservation is that in the authors' critique of the "conventional history" shares an assumption of the myth it so effectively dismantles. Individual purity of heart is no cure for social sickness. An individual, abandoning a ship headed for the bottom, is not sufficient to save the ship, however valuable the alert to other passengers.
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Is it significant that Kaag and Martin have nothing to say about the myriad ghosts of indigenous people that inhabited Walden Pond for centuries before the handful of 'Invisible Neighbours' that they identify?
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Great point, so why don't you point us to some links, educational material and research about this, otherwise it's simply a valid yet ultimately passive critique. Thanks!
16
They, indeed, do.
"The Native Americans of the Merrimack Valley vanished first to make way for the settlers — then the workers and slaves who supported the nation and the even-then-affluent Concord."
An article, like the present one, may not offer enough space even to an important yet subsidiary point in the current context.
"The Native Americans of the Merrimack Valley vanished first to make way for the settlers — then the workers and slaves who supported the nation and the even-then-affluent Concord."
An article, like the present one, may not offer enough space even to an important yet subsidiary point in the current context.
4
Thoreau wrote extensively about Native Americans. Scholars have examined this part of his legacy since the 1970s (see Robert Sayre, for example). HDT kept special notebooks on his Native American researches, some of which are currently on display at the Pierpont Morgan Library in NYC, as part of its fascinating exhibit on Thoreau's journals. http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/thoreau
4