Emerson’s Influence on Thoreau Essay Example

is hardly a passive retreat. Self-exploration can occur and may even be promoted by action; indeed, the best sources of employment are one's that encourage self-exploration. “What should we think of the shepherd’s life if his flocks always wandered to higher pastures than his thoughts? he wonders.

5 Individuals must also make sure that their actions do not hinder self-expression. In the beginning of Walden, Thoreau argues that all men should construct their exterior dwelling places. Not only is physical labor good for the soul, but it also minimizes one’s dependence upon other people, making unfettered self-exploration more possible. Similarly, men should construct their own inner dwellings. Thoreau believes that individuals are responsible for the kinds of selves they have, and he attributes both major and minor evils to a failure of responsibility.

His fellow citizens live lives of “quite desperation” because they do not recognize that they have chosen this kind of life and they are not aware that they have other choices. Immoral behavior is often 4 Walden. From Walden and Other Writings, Bantam Books, 1989: 205. 5 Walden, 171. 8 caused by a lack of concern for the self, and by a failure to recognize that an unjust self is not worth having. Individuals who are truly concerned with themselves, Thoreau argues, may not be particularly charitable, but they will refrain from harming others.

It is not a man's duty, as a matter of course, to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the most enormous wrong. " However, "if I devote myself to other pursuits and contemplations, I must see, at least, that I do not pursue them upon another man's

shoulders. I must get off him first. 6" Thoreau lives at Walden Pond to find the true meaning of life.

He wants to experience things for himself. Thoreau says, “I wanted…to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it in my next excursion” (Thoreau…).He takes Emerson’s advice who says, “Let us demand our own works and laws and worship” (Emerson…). “Standing on the bare ground- my head bathed by the blithe air and uplifted into infinite space- all mean egotism vanishes. I become a transparent eyeball” (Emerson…). In this sense, Emerson refers to vision, perception and the eye, which become the links between man and nature, and man’s ability to tap into nature spiritually.

Like Emerson, Thoreau also wanted to live a simple life in order to find the deeper meaning. Thoreau says, “I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life…”