Name:_______________________________ Group: __________________________________ Walden, Economy Study Guide Questions 1: p.

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1.

Why does Thoreau say that he is writing his account of living at Walden Pond?
In the first paragraph, Thoreau remarks that he has been persistently bothered by local townspeople about his mode of living. They question him why he chooses to live in isolation, what he eats, whether he feels lonesome. He insists that his arrangements at Walden Pond are completely livable, and in fact, somewhat normal to him. Thoreau simply wrote his account in the first place to defend his way of life.

2. In what point of view (1st, second, or third) is Walden written, and what is Thoreaus reason for this?
Walden is written in 1st person due to Thoreaus literary beliefs. He feels that the first person is often neglected in many works of writing. Thoreau thinks it is more appropriate to talk in the first person because the ideas bound within a book are that authors individual notions. Additionally, he encourages fellow authors to be more personal in their own pieces; to talk about their own thoughts, rather than pen another mans.

3. What is Thoreaus complaint regarding possessions?

In basic terms, Thoreau is against materialistic possessions. He states that objects are easier to acquire than to get rid of. So if there comes a time in a mans life when he wants to do more than just farm the land he inherits, he simply is unable to. Thoreau suggests that owning such possessions enslaves a man in a way because he is powerless in regards to doing what he wants in life. By not owning unnecessary belongings, he is competent in living a mans life, as Thoreau articulates.

4. What character trait does Thoreau attribute to the laboring man? Do you agree with him? Why?
Thoreau illustrates the laboring man as an ignorant human being. He remarks that the laboring man lives his life day by day, not fully embracing what life can offer. He is too absorbed in meaningless details to acquire the things that really matter. Additionally, the laboring man is portrayed as a machine, seldom doing feats for himself. No, I do not agree. I believe that in some cases, the laboring man undergoes such effort, for example physical labor, to achieve lifes fruits. He may be working towards attaining these fruits and in the process, finding the true meaning of life.

5. Thoreau addresses the reader using 2nd person: Some of you, we all know, are poor, find it hard to live, are sometimes, as it were, gasping for breath Why do you think that he does this? What is the effect of this?
Thoreau addresses the reader in 2nd person to establish a more personal connection with him. Particularly in the sentence where he says, Some of youare poor, find it hard to live, are sometimesgasping for breath, Thoreau is sympathetic towards his readers. By using this technique, readers will want to read on and perhaps truly understand his philosophies.

6. Thoreau writes that people are always promising to pay, promising to pay, to-morrow, and dying today, insolvent; seeking to curry favor, to get custom, by how many modes, only not state-prison offenses; lying, flattering, voting, contracting yourselves into a nutshell of civility, or dilating into an atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity, that you may persuade your neighbor to let you make his shoes, or his hat, or his coat, or his carriage, or import his groceries for him; making yourselves sick, that you may lay up something against a sick day, something to be tucked away in an old chest, or, in a stocking behind the plastering, or, more safely, in the brick bank; no matter where, no matter how much or how little. a. Syntax means sentence structure. What do you notice about this sentence? How does what you notice fit with the actual meaning of the sentence?
This lengthy sentence looks like a paragraph at first glance but it is indeed only once sentence. In the following sentence however, Thoreau is stating that people are engrossed with the notion of earning, spending, and saving money. They are constantly looking for ways to earn it such as making their neighbors shoes or bringing him groceries. They are consistently promising people to pay debts. They are obsessed with saving the money, often tucking it private places. By fitting all of these actions in one sentence, Thoreau suggests that they are all interconnected. One can do so much with money but in the end, money is money, and society is fixated upon it.

b. Give examples of figurative language from the excerpt above: i. Metaphor

Atmosphere of thin and vaporous generosity

ii. Alliteration
Brick bank, Dying to-day

iii. Assonance
Promisingto-morrowinsolvent. The oh sound in these words are repeated in this sentence.

iv. Alliteration
Stated above

7. Thoreau writes that The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. Why might this be considered an oxymoron? Hint:
Oxymorons are statements with words that contradict each other such a s pretty ugly or jumbo shrimp. Thoreaus belief that men lead lives of quiet desperation could be considered an oxymoron. When a person is desperate, he is often expressing his frustration and seldom keeping feelings in. Quietness and desperation do not necessarily go together because desperation requires reaching out and verbalizing ones feelings.

8. What does Thoreau say that he has learned from seniors? What is his point?
Thoreau insists that he has learned nothing from the elderly. He proclaims that their own lives were such failures that it is not their job to educate the young people on how they should live their own lives. Times have changed and what seniors knew and did back then may not be what the youth are enacting upon today. His point is that life is an experiment, and one cannot live it by attaining advice or getting help. Life is an individuals own journey.

9. According to Thoreau, what are the four necessities of life? Which of these is only partially necessary?
According to Thoreau, the four necessities of life are Food, Shelter, Fuel, and Clothing. He observes that creatures living in the wild only need a few inches of grass, water to drink, and a satisfactory shelter to live in. With these things, they are able to survive. Humans however, constantly desire to improve upon their lives, so Clothing and Fuel are somewhat necessary to our lifestyles. Thoreau emphasizes that humans are not like animals, which live by the bare necessities and still find a way to survive.

10. What is the metaphor regarding the Indian selling baskets? In other words, what is his point?
Thoreau tells of the time an Indian came to sell baskets to a wealthy lawyer. The lawyer refused to buy baskets, and the Indian was in a state of shock. He was appalled that the lawyer would let him starve. What Thoreau is trying to say in this anecdote, is one cannot rely on another man. The Indian man believed that the fact that the lawyer was wealthy, it was a guarantee that he would earn some money by selling his baskets. However, that is not the case. If one wanted to make a living, he must depend on himself.

11. One of Thoreaus most humorous, Beware of all enterprises that require new clothes, and not rather a new wearer of clothes. In your personal experience, has this been true?
When I read this quote, I took it more abstract rather than literal. Thoreau is suggesting taking on life experiences not to impress people, but rather to be yourself. Clothes wear out ultimately conforming to our shape, and they eventually become our character. Requiring new clothes is like saying needing a new personality and that is not the way to go about life. It is personally more beneficial to be yourself. In my experience, socially and academically, I found this to be true. In academic terms, writing in my individual voice makes my writing more personal and interesting. Socially, Im able to find friends who accept me for who I am, instead of who I could perhaps pretend to be.