Journal 11

Walden

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

            You learn more about yourself and have a deeper meaning in your existence when you live away from all the excess in society and alone in nature. 

Quote: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover I had not lived.”

“Sounds” (234)

This describes a day in his life where he would just sit around and listen to the nature around him and let every pass through him. 

Quote: “Instead of singing like the birds, I smiled at my good fortune.”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

In this Walden is comparing the black and red ants fighting for wood chips to humans fighting for terriorty and he does this to show the pettiness of humans wars over things that he considers to be trivial.  

            Quote: “I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men.”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

Nature is a neverending giver even when we can’t see its bounty. 

Quote: “Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” 

“Spring” (238)

The winter is cold and rough but in the spring everything comes back and is renewed in the new season. There is a rush of new life every spring and he compares this to the creation of the universe.

Quote: “Walden is dead and is alive again.”