In the chapter “Economy,” Thoreau is interested in identifying the purpose of an individual’s life. He does this by illustrating how few people appreciate the beauty and life and what it can offer them. He believes that people are overly dependent on the material aspects of life; hence, he devotes his time at Walden pond to illustrate how the items that people believe that they can’t live without actually further complicates their lives. At one point he states that, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone.” Here he emphasizes his believe that people would be happier (and certainly less stressed) if they could value the more important areas of life. While Walden essentially leaves his family and friends in order to embark on his journey, it is apparent in his discussion of how business men spend far too much time earning money for material objects than spending time with their families, that he believes that family and other relationships are very important. Thoreau claims that “It would be some advantage to live a primitive and frontier life…if only to learn what are the gross necessaries of life…” In this statement he emphasizes this idea of people being over-dependent on things as well as how people may lead better lives if they take the opportunity to understand the true value of a simple life. He compares his work as a “trade.” In doing so he insinuates that not only is he working to better his own life and identify himself with a more simplistic lifestyle, but also to help others comprehend the true beauty in nature and how society is depleting this nature through its dependency on material objects and societal advancement. I identified with Thoreau’s belief that clothing style is one societal advancement that is just a scam to get money from people. Particularly in the younger generations, people are becoming more and more obsessed with the style of clothing verses its actual function of covering a person and keeping him or her warm. Thoreau uses this idea to discuss “character vs. attire” by questioning “If there is not a new man, how can the clothes be made to fit?” He expresses a similar belief that people are obsessed with style and flashiness as he reviews his expenses to illustrate that he is able to build himself a home for a reasonable price with every necessity that he needs. In a way, he believes that a person is smothering his or her soul by building superfluous property and by spending money frivolously making one entirely insufficient. By emphasizing the need to be self-sufficient, Thoreau makes the point that consumerism is taking over our lives and preventing us from understanding the true value in our lives and the importance of appreciating life.
Economy: Becoming self-sufficient to understand value September 10, 2010
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