Societys Reactions To Walden :: essays research papers

When Walden was publish during the nineteenth century, the reactions of mess were exceedingly different than they are of modern society. These reactions were towards all(prenominal) aspect of Thoreau and altered with e very change in time. The foremost reactions toward enthalpy David Thoreau occurred when he went to racy on his confess at Walden Pond. As curious as it may seem, some critics think that Thoreaus choice to live at Walden Pond was simply because he was a hermit. However, his sheltered deportment was the result of his brothers death, which promoted henry to go to Walden Pond (Life 1). Henry explains in Walden, I went to the wood because I wished to live deliberately, to front except the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, get around that I had not lived (Life 1). As anyone may obviously see, Thoreau did not hire a life on the pond simply because he was a hermit. He left his nearby town of Co ncord for the life at the pond on July 4, 1845, which was Independence Day (Life 1). By leaving for Walden on July 4th Independence Day, Henry would have spent his first enough day at Walden Pond on the anniversary of his brothers birthday (Life 1).Although many believe Henry was a recluse, Henry was no stranger to society while he lived at the pond (Life 1). As he himself said, I had to a greater extent visitors while I lived in the woods than at any other period in my life I mean that I had some (Thoreau 119). These visitors Henry had at the pond include both his family and his friends, who he had, frequent dinners with (Life 1).The reactions of the people during Thoreaus time were very diverse, some were positive while others were negative. John Burroughs was one of the few people who wrote frequently on Thoreau. He points pop quite rightly that Thoreau was more interested in natural philosophy than natural science (Harding 87). In later years he forgot that and devoted most of his criticism to pointing out Thoreaus many errors in scientific identification of species, and thus upset the broader concept of Thoreaus work (Hendrick 87). Meanwhile, the reactions of Thoreaus neighbors werent all that bad. In Thoreaus Journal, Thoreau states, How I love the simple reserved countrymen my neighbors who mind their own business and let me alone who never waylaid nor shot at me to my knowledge when I crossed their fields though each one has a gun in his house (Harding 47).