1. According to the second paragraph in Economy, why has Thoreau decided to write about his life?

Thoreau has decided to write about his because of the inquiries the townsmen have made to him concerning his mode of life. They has asked about what he use to eat, if he feels lonesome, if he was afraid, what portion of his income he dedicated to charitable acts among others. 2. How does Thoreau answer the question implied in the title Where I Lived, and What I Lived For? He explains that he took up his house at Walden Woods so as 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 that I had not lived." He continues saying that we must live a simple life, a life within our means without the materialistic side. 3. What arguments does Thoreau present in Solitude to demonstrate that he is not lonely in his isolated situation? He began his arguments saying that the Earth that we inhabit is but a point in space then he makes a list of question and says that there is no way of putting two minds much nearer to one another. He finishes saying that a wise man would dwell with nature and not with man. 4. What satisfactions does Thoreau find in the labor of raising beans in The Bean Field? He enjoyed caring for the beans from planting to selling them. In his words: It was a singular experience. He was committed to know everything about them but most important he was learning from them.

5. Thoreaus metaphors are highly visual. Though they are clever and original, they arent far-fetched. Thoreau takes his comparisons from nature and from other things he and his audience are familiar with, such as clothes and sailing. To be sure you understand Thoreaus figures of speech, paraphrase the following metaphors: a. As for the rest of my readers, they will accept such portions as apply to them. I trust that none will stretch the seams in putting on the coat, for it may do good service to him whom it fits. That everyone will seek and find what they think and experience and no one will accept what does not think or experience.

b. I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life. He wants to take from life all that he can. c. If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. If a man has a lifestyle different from ours or different beliefs then we must respect him. 6. A parable is a very brief story that teaches a moral or ethical lesson. What do you think is the lesson of the parable involving the bug in the wood table at the conclusion of Walden? Inside of us there is a hidden potential that could change our life and society itself, which ironically is the one that has cut off our wings in to some extent. 7. What do you think Thoreau means in his final paragraph by these words: Only that day dawns to which we are awake? Literally it means that if we are asleep then we dont see the new day. Symbolically it can be that find what we are looking for, so we must be alert and open to what life is showing and teaching us every day. 8. Review the double-entry journal you kept as you read Walden. What generalization can you make about Thoreau beliefs? For example, you might make a generalization about Thoreaus beliefs on technological progress, based on what he says about railroads and other inventions. After the reading I can say that Thoreau does not like progress but does not denies it completely. It can be seen that he prefers nature oriented life rather than metropolis but that there must be a balance of some sort. He emphasize in a simple life but living it fully. He also belief that being self-sufficient will make a true community emerge in society.

In Walden Thoreau has put on together a lot of characteristics from the Romanticism Movement. In my opinion it is a romantic text. It is very clear in the second theme: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For. He redundantly rejected the artificial life of civilization and seeks for our roots in nature oriented life style. In the process he gives arguments against progress and materialism. And command us to search in ourselves, connected with nature, in order to transcend and fully live our lives.