Henry David Thoreau: His Intentions for His Actions

Henry David Thoreau: His Intentions for His Actions

Thoreau wanted to see and experience nature first hand. Growing up in a city, nature was most unknown to him. He writes in first person about the events and ideas that came to him during his time living at Walden Pond, in the eighteen hundreds. His intentions as a poet was top live a life of simplicity in order to make a direct connection between people, God, and nature.

In a period where growth both economically and territorially was seen as necessary for the development of a premature country, Thoreau felt the opposite. Thoreau was a man in search of growth within himself and was not concerned with outward improvements in him or society. In the chapter entitled "economy," he argued that people were too occupied with work to truly appreciate what life has to offer. He felt the root of this obsession with work was created through the misconstrued perception that material needs were a necessity, rather than a hindrance to true happiness and the full enjoyment of life. He felt that outside improvement can't bring inner peace and also working took all their available time. That is why he disapproved the idea of Industrial revolution as it provided work for the people.

Thoreau also wanted to strengthen his relationship with god. He thought that in a place ruled by government and economy, god could not make a direct connection with us and him. He shows us that while living at Walden Pond, he felt the love and presence of god sky rocket. His conclusion of this was that God and nature are closer together than man and god. By becoming one with nature he stated he became one with god. "Let man walk among the trees, and he will find himself walking among the lord."

Thoreau did not entirely hate people and society however. To Thoreau people were brainwashed and corrupted. He hated the cause of this not the victim. He feared humans would fall to deep into technology and law that they would forget the freedom god sacrificed his son for. This was one of his main intentions for writing his book. He wanted to show us that it isn't too late, and that all we have to do is put aside our daily work and glance at the world around us. He wanted people to remember that we already have our lives and our world, we should be thankful for that.

Henry David Thoreau was a