Charles Oliphant

Writing 2010

Brenda McKenna

4/13/2019

Walking and Westward Expansion

In the mid-19​th​ century Henry David Thoreau, an American writer, wrote

“Walking.” One of the reasons he did so was to convey his views on westward expansion. In his

essay, he used many uncommon words and phrases in order to express the idea that westward

expansion should not be a movement to civilize the west. Thoreau opens the reader up to the idea

that civilization hinders society. The purpose of “Walking” is to convey Thoreau’s views on

westward expansion and how society should play a role in it.

During the mid-19​th​ century, westward expansion into land purchased from France was at

an all-time high. People everywhere were looking to the west and the many possibilities that it

presented and so was Thoreau: “Every sunset which I witness inspires me with the desire to go

west as distant and as fair as that into which the sun goes down.”(Walking 9) He is being driven

to go west. He longs for the west as so he can escape from civilization and saunter through the

great plains and forest that the west provides. He feels that the future, not only in his own life but

in America’s and well, lies in the west: “The future lies that way to me, and the earth seems more

unexhausted and richer on that side.”(Walking 8) In “Walking”, Thoreau talks about how

westward expansion is the future. He Talks about the adventure that exploring the west will be,

he says “We go eastward to realize history, and study the works of art and literature, retracing
steps of the race, - we go westward as into the future, with a spirit of enterprise and

adventure.”(Walking 8) The east is for the past and the west is for and toward a better future.

Thoreau’s future, however, is different from the future that America was bound to have.

In 1845 a phrase was coined that expressed the general philosophy in the 19​th​ century.

This phrase was Manifest Destiny. The idea that it was the God given right for America to

expand and deliver democracy and capitalism to the west was popular among most people in that

time. (History 1) This, however, is not what Thoreau believed that west ward expansion should

be. He thought that the west should not be used for civilization like the east had been. He thought

that the west should be open and free to roam and explore: “Eastward I go only by force; but

westward I go free. Thither no business leads me. It is hard for me to believe that I shall find fair

landscapes, or sufficient Wildness and Freedom behind the eastern horizon.”(Walking 8)

Thoreau believed that he could only find enough freedom in the west, away from the civilized

east. Thoreau dislikes civilization and looks to the west for somewhere to get away from it: “ I

am not excited by the prospect of a walk thither; but I believe that the forest which I see in the

western horizon stretches uninterruptedly towards the setting sun, and that there are not towns

nor cities in it of enough consequences to disturb me.”(Walking 8) Unlike most views of the time

all Thoreau wants the west to be is a place where he could go on a walk and not be interrupted by

civilization and its downfalls. Throughout his essay Thoreau talks about nature and how he

thinks that civilization is ruining it for him.

Thoreau has a unique relationship with the civilization that he is a part of. While he does

live in it, he does not believe is of it or influenced by it. He does not understand how people can

be part of civilization: “When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shopkeepers stay
in their shops… all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them—as if the legs

were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon—I think that they deserve some credit for

not having all committed suicide long ago.”(Walking 2) To him this is what civilization is idle

people not partaking in nature. He cannot fathom a world in which these people do not walk for

hours a day. Thoreau looks to the west as this untapped land for him to walk through away from

the east with civilization and all of its downfalls: “Eastward I go only by force; but westward I

go free. Thither no business leads me. It is hard for me to believe that I shall find fair landscapes,

or sufficient Wildness and Freedom behind the eastern horizon.”(Walking 8) When Thoreau is

talking about going west and west ward expansion, he does not want it to become a place full of

people and cities and towns. He wants it to become a free untamed landscape where he and

others can go walking uninterrupted by the civilization of the east.

In Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Walking” he discusses the topic of westward

expansion, his views on it and how his thoughts and ideas differ from those of the time. In

“Walking” Thoreau constantly talks about going westward and being drawn where he thinks the

future lies. He believes that the west is a place that should remain untamed and that civilization

should have no part in it. This varies greatly from the main idea of the time which was Manifest

Destiny the idea that God wanted America to expand and bring democracy and capitalism to the

west. He believes that civilization is bad, and that the west should be a be a land where people

can just go for a walk on a road less travelled.

 Works cited

Editors, History.com. “Manifest Destiny.” History.com, A&E Television Networks,

5 Apr. 2010, www.history.com/topics/westward-expansion/manifest-destiny.

Henry David Thoreau, Walking. Class handout