Walden by Henry David Thoreau Book Review

In Walden, there is a common theme throughout the book of leaving everything behind and embracing the wilderness. Thoreau starts the book off right away talking about how he wanted to share this experience with us, likely so it would help others learn how to live better lives. The connection he has with the wilderness demonstrates what he had to give up to progress there. Mainly, he relied only on the four elements he viewed humans needed to survive: food, water, shelter and fuel. He was clever in his selection of Walden pond for its idyllic location to reflect, and its potential to provide most of the required idems he deemed necessary to survive. With Thoreaus experiment to live a very simple and rudimentary lifestyle, this desire is still echoed in modern culture. The idea of escaping the city or your boring life is an idea that is still relevant to this day. To be able to drop all of your woes and stresses and start anew is something a multitude of people would likely find appealing. This inherent connection to God is represented by a “call of the wild”, and brings people to the realization that nature is cleansing. As a transcendentalist, he viewed the connection to nature and god as a pure relationship. I believe one of his greatest messages to the reader is that venturing into the unknown can increase your self-reliance, allow you to find yourself, and truly connect to god. 

In the very first chapter, Thoreau has a spread of ideas that connect to this idea of simplicity and self-reliance. Because he had to take matters into his own hands to survive (apart from all the help he got/bought from others) he needed to be self-sustaining. He shows this through his adaptation in a number of ways. One of the most prominent is with the management of his economy, and the cultivation of his crops. The first and largest chapter of the book talks extensively about this. Because he learned to manage his money to successfully pull off this experiment, he was able to wane the knowledge and enlightenment from the experience. I assume he added such emphasis on the economics for the book because he understood the struggle a man chained down to the farm would be forced to suffer through, so he could instead follow Thoreau’s words of wisdom. To encourage others to seek the call of the wild and experience the full grace of god, they needed to remove the barriers blocking them out of the way. Once done with that tribulation including having secured shelter, water, and fuel, he pressed onwards with his experiment. Once he started planting beans and other crops, he came to appreciate the ease he viewed as sustenance farming. He comments on this, stating, “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 n.p). He is telling the reader how easy it is while simultaneously inviting them to try it themselves. The success he found he believes could be replicated, moreover, anyone can experience the freedom provided by god to follow your passions. This also comes up in the bible readings we discussed when Jesus lead the Apostles on the boat through the storm with relative ease. Without Jesus there, they would be struggling. This connects with Thoreau’s work because he sees a similar issue with farmers chained to their land. They struggle their way through life instead of seeing as it should, through the beauty and tranquility of God. 

Alongside Thoreau’s ideas involving self-reliance, he heavily leans into the idea of simplicity, simplicity, simplicity. Even in the wild, there is still some form of civilization that a person needs to stay connected with. Walden relied heavily on the landowner, and through this friendship was granted tools and other equipment from the modern world. He also occasionally strolled into town and slunk out near the back as he left. Apart from these relatively minor exceptions, he largely stayed focused on his experiment.