Thoreau's Walden

Earlier this semester, I read Thoreau's Walden for my Intro to Environmental Studies class. Thoreau talks a lot about the idyllic lifestyle of living alone in the woods, away from society and other people. However, in his language, he shows that he does not see nature as its own thing, but rather as an idol that he pushes his expectations and ideals on. His expectations going into his time at Walden Pond do not set him up for a time of self-reflection, but rather an experience of self-assurance, where his own preconceived views and nothings are all that he will find at Walden. Thinking back on his writings from this angle, it is clear that he is only experiencing himself, despite his claims that he is truly living with nature. In order to live in nature, to dwell, he would have to have opened himself up to the experiences around him, rather than having gone in with a conclusions already in mind.

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