Analysis Of Where I Lived And What I Lived For By Henry David Thoreau

The world is a buzzing place with endless sites to see, people to meet and possessions to own. The problem with this buzzing society, is that we forget to live in the moment, and enjoy each day to the fullest. People are consumed with worrying about how much they ‘have’, which can leave them competitive, materialistic, selfish, and forgetting what is really important. Henry David Thoreau believes to combat this, people need to simplify their lives, minimize the amount of friends they have, meals they eat, and possessions they own (1102). Thoreau graduated from Harvard university and throughout his life he worked as a tutor, house painter, carpenter, mason, surveyor and pencil maker. In 1845 Thoreau moved to Walden Pond, on his friend’s property, where he built himself a cabin to live in. …show more content…
He states “I went to the woods because I wished to lived 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” (Thoreau 1101). Thoreau discusses many ideas, all circling one theme, simplified living. His practice of simplicity may be too extreme for most to adhere to, however it is a valuable guideline. Thoreau’s promotion of living a simple life in “Where I Lived and What I Lived For” is admirable, if we followed in his general direction we could more easily manage our lives and genuinely enjoy them to the