Thoreau wrote "Walden" as an account of his time in isolation. Thoreau decided he wanted to get away from the city, away from modern life, and away from technology. In order to do this, he decided to go live in the woods without much to sustain him. He stated, "I wanted to live deep and such out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartanlike as to put to rout all that was not life, to cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms (...)" (Thoreau 214). By saying this, Thoreau exclaimed how he wanted to kind of check out from life. He wanted to step back from the normal world in order to self reflect a little bit, which I definitely think is respectable.
Walter Harding wrote a critical analysis of Thoreau's "Walden." He discussed many different thoughts, including his own personal opinion as well as the general opinions of others. Many view Thoreau as hypocritical or not inspirational, but Harding seemed to disagree. He wrote, "In any one period of his life he was usually consistent. Contradictions can be found only if one places in juxtaposition statements Thoreau made at wide intervals of time" (Harding). I think this statement is very true. Many scholars believed that Thoreau was contradictory because of what he did; he spent time in isolation but then returned to a normal city life. Thoreau also would spend time with his sister at her completely modern house during those years. I agree with Harding though; Thoreau did stay consistent. His ideas would certainly change, but whose ideas always stay the same throughout their entire lives? As people get older, it is just human nature for their views to be altered a little bit. Scholars only looked at that one time frame, the time frame that occurred as Thoreau left the nature and returned to every day life. I think Harding worded his opinion very well; there is more to the puzzle than just one individual piece.
One thing Harding wrote stood out to me. It was not necessarily important to one's opinion of Thoreau, but I found it interesting just the same. Harding wrote, "In Walden particularly Thoreau made much of his desire for solitude. But one must be careful not to think him antisocial. When he traveled through the Maine woods and discovered true hermits living miles from any neighbor, he was appalled. He wanted merely to be able to be alone when he felt the need to be by himself, not to dwell in complete solitude" (Harding). I think this is a good point to make. Some readers, when reading "Walden," might think Thoreau had decided to live his life of solitude just because he was capable of doing it and had nothing better to do. After reading Harding's statement though, I found myself relating my life to Thoreau's. It makes me have more respect for the man. I thought about the fact that Thoreau had to live without technology; I did not really think about the fact that he was all alone though. To me, that would make the experience so much more difficult, although it does seem that you cannot live a life of solitude with other people around. Altogether, I think Harding did a very good job analyzing Thoreau's "Walden." He covered many different opinions; he was not biased. Harding also gave new insight to the work. I found it very insightful.
WORKS CITED
Harding, Walter. A Thoreau Handbook by Walter Harding: pp. 131-173 (New York University Press, 1959). © 1959 by New York University Press. Quoted as "Thoreau's Ideas" in Harold Bloom, ed. Henry David Thoreau, Bloom's BioCritiques. Philadelphia: Chelsea House Publishing, 2003. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= BCHDT05&SingleRecord=True (accessed November 17, 2010).
Thoreau, Henry David. “Walden” In American Literature. Willhelm, Jeffory, comp. McGraw Hill. Columbus, 2009. Print.
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