Walden 1061IndIvIduaL and SocIety in Walden
As well as being a long essay on the wonders of the
natural world, Walden is a work of social criticism.
Distressed by the emptiness he perceives at the heart
of the American lifestyle, Henry David Thoreau
questions the role of the individual in relation to
society and decides that social reform must begin
with the self.
Thoreau believes that America has been “ruined
by luxury and heedless expense.” Assuming the role
of moral instructor, he accuses his countrymen of
adhering to outmoded traditions and conventions;
of being obsessed with acquiring material goods;
and of having a mistaken conception of work, which
exists only to feed artificial needs. Progress is an illu-
sion: Most modern inventions are “improved means
to an unimproved end” because they do nothing to
nurture an individual’s spirit. To cure these ills, Tho-
reau proposes an alternative, self-sufficient lifestyle
based on “rigid economy . . . Spartan simplicity” and
a closer communion with nature: one should shed
“unnecessary inherited encumbrances” and focus on
the “gross necessaries of life.” He leads by example,
withdrawing from society to live alone at Walden
Pond.
Despite what Thoreau says, it is no “accident”
that he moves into his new home on the Fourth of
July, Independence Day: He is symbolically declar-
ing his independence from society. He is not putting
himself “in formal opposition to the most sacred
laws of society” for the sake of being contrary, how-
ever; he is merely marching to the beat of a “differ-
ent drummer” and obeying the “laws of his being.”
Nor is he suggesting that readers should follow
his example to the letter and abandon civilization.
He is urging them to be true to their individual
natures and not be swayed by society’s conventions:
“I would have each one be very careful to find out
and pursue his own way.” In this respect, it is impor-
tant to remember that Thoreau’s time at Walden
is an “experiment”; he never intended to make his
hut his permanent home. At the beginning of the
book, he states that he is “a sojourner in civilized
life again”—that is, he is once more an integrated
member of society.
In truth, despite living on his own, Thoreau is
not separated from society. At times, he may feel
that there is “no path to the civilized world,” but the
railroad skirts the pond, and he is “related to society
by this link”; indeed, watching the freight trains roll
by with their global goods, he feels like “a citizen of
the world.” He visits the village every day. On one
of these visits, he is thrown in jail for refusing to pay
his poll tax, prompting him to reflect on the rela-
tionship between the individual and the state and
display his egotistical streak: “But, wherever a man
goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty
institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to belong
to their desperate odd-fellow society.” Despite this,
he claims to “love society as much as most” and is
ready to “fasten himself like a bloodsucker” to any-
one who comes his way. He receives many visitors;
in fact, he tells us that he “had more visitors while
[he] lived in the woods than at any other period of
[his] life.” And when he has had “a surfeit of human
society and gossip,” he finds fellowship in nature, for
“the most innocent and encouraging society may be
found in any natural object.” All things considered,
he is not as solitary or as antisocial as is sometimes
supposed.
As these examples show, Thoreau is a contra-
dictory figure. Despite extolling the values of soli-
tude, he enjoys company; despite underscoring the
benefits to be found in nature, he makes frequent
trips to the village. At its heart, however, Walden
expresses Thoreau’s belief in “the infinite extent
of our relations.” His message, while emphasizing
the primacy of the individual, is ultimately social:
“I brag for humanity rather than for myself.” With
Walden, he wants to “wake [his] neighbors up” and
provoke them into living their lives differently. In
his “Conclusion,” he tells the story of how a bug,
whose egg had been buried in the wood of a table
for ages, miraculously hatched and gnawed its way
out, and he compares this to the way in which his
readers, if they heed his words, “may unexpectedly
come forth” from “the dead dry life of society” and
take wing.
P. B. Grantnature in Walden
Walden is justifiably praised for its descriptions of
nature, but Thoreau perceived of nature as more
than just a series of picturesque landscapes: He saw