A Short Review of Walden Essay Example for Free

A Short Review of Walden Essay Walden is a book written by Henry David Thoreau, published in 1854. He is an American writer and naturalist who left his family and lived in solitude. He lived a simple life during his two-year stay and only received a few visitors because he spent most of his days thinking and observing nature and working on his essays. In his book, he explains why he sought refuge from society. I like what he says about life, that we must live the most out it. No matter how mean life is we should not shun it and call hard names because life is not as bad as we think it is. I like his emphasis on how to cherish life despite its imperfection. I agree that there really is more to life than richness. Despite how poor you may be, people should still call it life because even in the slums life is more than what we see. In the first chapter of the book, Thoreau identified the major problem, which is how the acquisition of material goods may consume your life. In one of his passages, he stated that, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived, which means that he want to live out his life. It is an irony. I also got confused when he kept on encouraging on living life to the fullest when he himself is trying to avoid the specific lifestyle he does not even make a genuine effort to try his ideas and follow his own advice. However, I noticed some bitterness in his work. He encourages his readers to welcome change but he seemed much laid back in things such as not trying to improve oneself either in the physical appearance such as the clothing he wore and even not socializing and meeting many friends. I think he is attempting to rearrange society and he sound more like doing a religious talk, a sermon. In Walden, Thoreau keeps emphasizing the importance of nature and his view of materialism as a force damaging the human spirit. I think his ideas are brilliant, very close to reality. It points to the very core of our society’s problem. In Walden, Thoreau believed the major problem only exist in his time when the problem of materialism grew until these days. The acquisition of material goods puts you to an addiction that only you can get away with. We all must apply his ideas on our lives. I believe that it is best if we put importance on spirituality over materialism. Although, we cannot avoid this modern society from upgrading so fast but we can stop and control ourselves from being consumed by all of those. I think it is wiser to be conscious and be aware of how materialism could affect our spirituality. It is like a parasite dwelling on us, consuming our spirit and without us knowing we left with nothing but scarred soul. His ideas can very helpful to us by starting on ourselves. By applying the system to our lives and putting spiritual above the material. We are all responsible of our own destiny that is why we must be logical about our actions. That is why sometimes we need to give ourselves a time alone, a time away from the busy life, and just be alone in a place where we could reflect helps us clear our minds from negative notions. It is a way of challenging ourselves if we could resist the temptation of life from reach for something not very necessary for survival and if we could resist the temptation of luxury and greed, is a called a test. Who ever dares to take the test of simple living, lives a life of happiness and contentment. Work Cited Thoreau, Henry David. Walden and Resistance to Civil Government. Rossi, William, ed. New York: W. W. Norton Company, 1992.