In reading Walden, I frequently found myself thinking about the historical context surrounding many of Thoreau’s arguments. Published in 1854, Thoreau’s account gives several insights into the time-period in which he lived. Of course, this move by the reader (as evoked by Thoreau) does not seem accidental. Understanding the social, economic and political environment present in 1850’s Concord seems central to most of Thoreau’s arguments.
Consider this passage from paragraph 14 of “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For”:
“The morning, which is the most memorable season of the day, is the awakening hour.”
Thoreau uses the literal context of morning to describe when human ambition is at its peak. This might be seen as a simple analogy, but considering the period in which he writes, opens the reader up to a more theoretical view.
Continuing in the same paragraph, Thoreau proclaims, “Then there is least somnolence in us; and for an hour, at least, some part of us awakes which slumbers all the rest of the day and night.” This sentence should be especially troubling for a young reader in the year 2018, commenting on such paragraphs via laptop computer. That is to say, that I’m not at all what Thoreau might call a ‘morning person,’ often engrossed in Netflix and YouTube until at least 2 a.m.
Beyond this metaphor comparing the morning to the awakening of genius and spirit in humankind, are the literal changes occurring in industrialized society. New technologies like the steam-engine, the electric-light, and a multitude of farming instruments are quickly changing the landscape of American society. The cities are growing, but Thoreau retreats into the woods.
He writes, “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 that I had not lived.” This quintessential sentence illuminates Thoreau’s reasoning and puts his previous argument into perspective. He feels he needs to go to the woods in order to live a deliberate life. A life that is separate and apart from a culture that’s modernizing.
This passage about the morning leading into Thoreau’s assertion about motive, “to front only the essential facts of life,” entices the reader to theorize as to what is gained from escaping modernity. To see the value in waking up to the light of the sun, rather than engrossed in some mechanized, artificial construction. In short, he challenges the reader to question such constructions, both social and physical, that lay the foundation of our modern way of life.
Not to say that Thoreau finds no value in the changing environment and society thereof, but has reservations as to whether a person can understand what it truly means to be awake and alive under the tidal-wave that is modern, urban living. This beautifully made argument, both literal and metaphorical, invites the reader (especially those in 2018) to do a great deal of theorizing when trying to grasp its more abstract nature. However, there are a multitude of ways in which this single paragraph can be read, as is typical of Thoreau’s writing in general. This is only one of several points of view.