Caedmon Foore

Dr. Gross

English 235

6 March 2024

Time Spent at Walden

            Born July 12, 1817, Thoreau adopted New England Transcendentalism. He was a fan of the simple things in life, what was necessary to live a practical life. Thoreau attended Harvard from 1833 to 1837, after graduation Thoreau bounced around trying to find his place in life. Due to current events such as the Trail of Tears (1838), Thoreau most likely furthered his foundation on slavery and government being inherently wrong. The trail of tears was the perfect example of why he was against the authority of white bureaucrats, flexing their muscles and forcing an entire population to move thousands of miles. “Take long walks in stormy weather or through deep snows in the fields and woods, if you would keep your spirits up. Deal with brute nature. Be cold and hungry and weary.” (Thoreau). This barbaric action showed how little the American government cared for those of other races or cultures. Thoreau was against slavery for the same reasons and was spurred to write about it so that others could see the truth behind it.

          After Thoreau’s years at Harvard, he held a series of odd jobs but was inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson who encouraged Thoreau to Begin publishing, One of these works was Civil Disobedience which he formulated during his time at Walden. His goal: “To live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach.” (Henry David Thoreau). This time taught Thoreau the world was flawed and in 1849 he published Civil Disobedience in the hopes that people today could see how flawed this world is.

Works Cited

“Henry David Thoreau.” Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/july-12/#:~:text=Writer%2C%20philosoph....

Thoreau, Henry David, 1817-1862. Walden ; and, Civil Disobedience : Complete Texts with Introduction, Historical Contexts, Critical Essays. Boston :Houghton Mifflin, 2000.