The Hobbit 1063Thoreau’s doctrine of self-reliance. In his opinion,
work should be seen not as an unavoidable burden
but as a means to an end: Its main function is to
allow us freedom to pursue other interests and to
cultivate our spiritual sides through contemplation
of nature and the arts.
Thoreau thinks that Americans are caught in
a grinding cycle of work that offers no relief: “The
twelve labors of Hercules were trifling in com-
parison with those which my neighbors have under-
taken; for they were only twelve, and had an end.”
Many people have inherited property and livestock,
and in order to maintain them they have become
“serfs of the soil . . . digging their graves as soon as
they are born.” “The mass of men lead lives of quiet
desperation” because they see no way out of this pre-
dicament and have no leisure to enjoy the fruits of
their labor: “Most men . . . through mere ignorance
and mistake, are so occupied with the . . . coarse
labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked
by them.” Slave to the demands of mass production,
“the laboring man . . . has no time to be any thing
but a machine.”
Thoreau sees no sense “spending . . . the best
part of one’s life earning money in order to enjoy a
questionable liberty.” He adds: “It is not necessary
that a man should earn his living by the sweat of
his brow.” Thoreau was an early critic of material-
ism, espousing simplicity and urging his readers to
understand how little they need to satisfy life’s basic
needs. He recommends owning one’s home instead
of renting and provides detailed lists of the low costs
involved in building his hut and the profits gained
from growing and selling his own produce without
the aid of livestock. He takes pride in his financial
independence—indeed, he asserts that he is “more
independent than any farmer in Concord” because
he is not in anyone’s debt.
Thoreau claims that anyone “who secures his
coveted leisure . . . by systematically shirking any
labor” defrauds himself of an invaluable experience;
nevertheless, he admits that he “do[es] not wish to
be any more busy with [his] hands than is necessary.”
Work is merely a means to an end, and he calculates
that “by working about six weeks in a year, [he]
could meet all the expenses of living” and leave him-
self “free and clear for study.” This formula reverses
that found in the Bible: Thoreau is suggesting that
we work one day a week and rest for six. This may
seem outrageous, but Thoreau puts intellectual and
spiritual exertion on a par with physical labor: Just as
the farmer works in his fields, he argues, the thinker,
though apparently idle, is “at work in his field, and
chopping in his woods.” Sometimes, unwilling “to
sacrifice the bloom of the present moment to any
work, whether of the head or hands,” Thoreau sits in
serene reverie for hours, and he claims that the spiri-
tual result is “far better than any work of the hands
would have been.” He knows that his neighbors
would think this was “sheer idleness,” but he judges
himself by nature’s standards.
When Thoreau meets the laborer John Field,
who scratches a living for his family by working
in the fields of a local farmer, he tries to help him
benefit from his experience. He compares their situ-
ations, telling Field that his hut hardly cost more
to build than the annual rent Field pays for the
“ruin” in which he lives; that “in an hour or two,
without labor, but as a recreation, [Thoreau] could
earn enough money to support [himself ] a week”;
and how Field might improve his circumstances
by adopting a similar lifestyle. Although Field does
not appreciate Thoreau’s advice, the message has
been taken on board by many since. That message
would not have been heard had not Thoreau taken
up residence at Walden Pond. And this is the most
obvious benefit of his time in the woods and his
idiosyncratic attitude toward work: It allowed him
time to compose much of what would eventually
become Walden.
P. B. GrantToLkiEN, J. r. r. The Hobbit (1937,
1951)
The Hobbit, by J. R. R. Tolkien, was published in
1937 and revised in 1951 to render the novel more
consistent with its as-yet-unpublished sequel, The
lord of the ringS. The Hobbit tells the story of
Bilbo Baggins, a hobbit. Hobbits are childlike and
child-sized creatures; they are earthy, simple folk
representing basic rural values and decency. Bilbo is
recruited as a burglar by the wizard Gandalf to help
a troop of dwarves led by Thorin Oakenshield in