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18 October 1999
Class Comments on the Structure and Language of Walden and the Persona of Thoreau

  Besides the obvious device of organizing his text according to the passing of the seasons, identify some of the structuring devices that Thoreau employs in Walden.

The book begins in hindsight and then gets to the story of his life at Walden. . . . The book is organized so that the events Thoreau mentions lead up to something greater, like bricks upon bricks: in later chapters he expands on points raised in earlier ones. . . . I think it was only after the newness of his experience had worn off that Thoreau was really able to complete the connection with Walden: he reaches conclusions only to discover later on that he was not completely able to understand his own metaphors. . . .  Particular places (i.e., the structure of Walden Woods) contribute to the structure of Walden: the pond, the train, the cabin, the woods. . . . The cycle of life is played out in the structure of Walden: in each chapter he starts with a particular area or time or job and he builds on the experience that each brought him. . . .  Each experience builds on another: e.g., the town gossip leads to the gossip of the spirits in the woods.   His experiences are always leading to something. . . .  Each chapter addresses some issue mentioned in a previous chapter: railroad (society vs. nature), the issue of solitude vs. being alone.  But throughout he also gives counter-thoughts (e.g.,   of solitude by mentioning visitors that he had).  . . .  Structure through recurring themes: social/nonsocial; Christian/spriritual; . . ..
Consider in particular how chapters can frequently be considered in pairs as Thoreau explores opposing views--or examines an experience from different perspectives.   In the language of  Kenneth Burke, Walden is developed out of a series of statements and counterstatements.  See comment above regarding "counter thoughts."

  Identify what you perceive to be the chief traits of Thoreau's persona.

I think in the '90s this book is more about fantasy than anything else because we are too far removed from nature to really ever adopt Thoreau's ideas on how to live better.   We need too many things. . . . .   He makes himself indifferently average: this allows the didactic message of the book to hit home.  The point doesn't seem to be that you have to do as he did but that you can change the things in life that sometimes seem unchangeable. . . . Thoreau's persona reminded me of my grandfather.   I always got the feeling in talking to my grandfather that there was more substance below the surface.  In Thoreau's work, that deeper meaning was there, and many times I was able to make sense of it, but just as often I was left scratching my head. . . .   Often Thoreau is a judge of what's best about life and always takes . . . Walden as being the best available of the earth. . . .  Quirky, observant, far thinking, strange, practical Yankee . . .  I get the feeling that many times he uses the voices of others to express his views.  He takes on the persona of one learning from what he sees, does, and hears from other people. . . . Each time he describes someone or something, the underlying meaning relates to his life story at some point. . . . We finally see him as one has chosen his own way of life--not what society dictates.  He compels us to think for ourselves. . . . . He is a true individualist.  But he is so opinionated and self-assured that I would find him annoying if I didn't happen to agree with what he says.  . . .  Thoreau is on a spiritual journey, and his mission is to challenge--himself and the reader.
Be careful not to overlook Thoreau's dry humor--his projection of himself as a sort of anti-hero who pokes fun at his own reputation for eccentricity--or as an almost comic protagonist in a mock-heroic engagement with life.  Reflect on the comments above that Thoreau presents himself as "indifferently average," as one "always learning," as one who challenges "himself and the reader."  Consider his strategies for establishing identification with his readers--and be sure you know what the word persona means.

  In examining Thoreau's language, identify what you perceive to be the dominant and/or most revealing metaphors of Walden.

Metaphors of exploration and journeying. . . . The St. Vitus Dance--describing the hurries and worries of day to day life in a capitalist society.  . . .  The railroad as a symbol of technology overtaking nature and the pond as something of intrinsic value . . .  For me the book was one large metaphor that spoke of being an individual--and how self-reliance is in fact a reliance on others. . . .  The pond as representative of his quest for the ideal . . .  The pond represents a spiritual magnificence, the woods a mysterious wondering, and the owl something that fights through nature while actually seeing what is going on. . . .  The winter metaphor may be the most powerful--his ability to relate his melancholy to the bleakness of winter allows you insight into his isolated state. . . .  The people in "Former Inhabitants" seem to represent man's inferiority or vulnerability to nature. . . .  The fish on Walden Pond compared to neighboring fish: there were fewer of them but they were heavier and firmer.  And the house: do you own it, or does it own you? . . .  The pond metaphor really symbolizes the purity of nature that Thoreau is struggling to master and the depth of the "unknown," which could be seen as the mirror of his subconscious.
Thoreau was an exponent and practioner of the so-called "psychological rhetoric" that was taught at Harvard in the 1830s and '40s.   Some of its characteristics (flexible approaches to form, the absence of rigidly prescribed rules, the rejection of artificial ornament, and an emphasis on clear language grounded as much as possible on sensory phenomena) parallel the Romantic reaction against artistic rigidity and prescribed form. Consider in particular Thoreau's use of paradox (seemingly contradictory statements), analogies, and various forms of indirect persuasion.  Examine the various types of sentence structures that he favors: terse aphoristic sentences, cumulative sentences, and rhetorical questions.  Consider his reliance on rich sensory descriptions, commonly employing concrete, familiar objects as the vehicles for most of his metaphors.  Note his use of synechdoche, as in the numerous microsm-macrocosm relationships identified in Walden (e.g., the battle of the ants and the melting of the sandbank).   (For a superior study of Thoreau's language, see Essays on Henry David Thoreau: Rhetoric, Style, and Audience, by Richard Dillman (Locust Hill Press, 1993), available in our library.)

15 October 1999
Class Responses to Questions on "Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors" and "Winter Animals"

Guidelines
In concise and coherent paragraphs, please respond to the following questions via e-mail no later than 6:00 p.m. this Tuesday (October 12).  (There is, of course, no single correct answer to any one of these questions; I'm looking for thoughtful--and thought-provoking--responses that are clearly supported by direct references to the text.)  Responses will be posted to this web site on Tuesday evening.


Question 1: "Former Inhabitants; and                       Winter Visitors"
In "Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors," Thoreau reports
from the depths of a New England winter (two winters, actually).
Having few visitors at this time of year, Thoreau relies on his memory "to conjure up the former occupants of these woods." In a
paragraph, consider how Thoreau's characterizations of these
various individuals (Cato Ingraham, Zilpha, Wyman the potter,
and others) serve to reveal aspects of his own persona and
philosophy. Be sure to support your observations with specific
references to the text.
   "Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors"  In this chapter, Thoreau turns to possible sources of spiritual stimulation during the winter months. One of his possible stimuli is the history of the woods. He recounts the residence of three former slaves: Cato ingraham, whose Walden land was eventually taken away by "a younger and whiter speculator," Zilpha, an elderly woman who spun linen and sang, and Brister Freeman, whose wife, Fenda told fortunes. The stories of these three indicate a sadness in the narrator.
Recounting their stories you can read how it troubled Thoreau that such things can happen in these woods that are so special to him. The history of the woods gave him little stimulation and only led him to depression. "Alas! how little does the memory of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!"  [SR]

  Thoreau describes many different characters within the
chapter. Each takes on some role not only within the community, but in a personal way as well.  He talks of the slave, the seamstress, the poet, the politician, the
potter, and the list goes on. He then discusses something
personal about each person. The seamstress loved to sing. "Here, by the very corner of my field, still nearer to town, Zilpha, a colored woman, had her little house,
where she spun linen for the townsfolk, making the Walden Woods ring with her shrill singing, for she had a loud and noticeable voice." He seems almost to fill the woods with friendly characters to keep himself sane.  He takes walks
and thinks about the former inhabitants of the woods. They
comfort him in some way. I think this shows an interesting side to Thoreau.  He has taken a remote place and given it the personality of an old town with people to gossip about. For as much as he complained about the "townspeople" he really
seems no different, except for the fact that his neighbors are
no longer living! He is explaining how he took the edge off of the loneliness.  [SH]

    It seems that throughout "Former Inhabitants; and Winter Visitors" nature continues to flourish while only traces remain of the humans who once occupied the woods. For example, we are told that "Cato's half-obliterated
cellar hole still remains, though known to few, being concealed
from the traveller by a fringe of pines. It is now filled with smooth sumach, (Rhus glabra,) and one of the earliest species of golden-rod (Solidago stricta) grows there luxuriantly." Then, two paragraphs later, Thoreau mentions Brister Freeman, whose apple trees continue to thrive although
Brister, the man who'd planted and tended them, now lies in the "old Lincoln burying-ground." And what remains of Col. Quoil? A garden now "over-run with Roman wormwood and beggarticks." After noting the few remaining traces of
Walden Woods' former inhabitants, Thoreau states, "Now only a dent in the earth marks the site of these dwellings, with buried cellar stones, and strawberries, raspberries, thimble-berries, hazel-bushes, and sumachs growing
in the sunny sward there..." A few sentences later, he adds,
"These cellar dents, like deserted fox burrows, old holes, are all that is left where once were the stir and bustle of human life..." (It's kind of depressing, actually, when you're on the human end of the equation!)  [JR]

  Many of the characters reflect Thoreau's own persona and philosophy. For example, Cato's place will be left behind for others to find. The same is true for Thoreau, he'll leave his thoughts for others  to think about. However, he says Cato's place "still remains, though known to few." Brister Freeman is another example of reflecting Thoreau's philosophy of what it means to truly live. Freeman's epitaph told Thoreau "when he died; which was but an indirect way of informing me that he ever lived." There's more to a person's life than the number of years but few
recognize this or live up to their potential. What happens when
we are gone? What will we leave behind for others to know about us?  Hugh Quoil is an example that Thoreau knew little about except for what he left behind, his house. These cellar dents, like deserted fox burrows, old holes, are all that is left where once were the stir and bustle of human life." All we can leave behind is material possessions, but they don't give a person character.  [AH]
   The character of Cato Ingraham is like Thoreau in that I get the sense that he too feels like he's been given "permission" to live at Walden Pond, which he sees as something greater than himself.  The fact that Cato is a
former slave also reflects Thoreau's feeling of being directed
by his society too much--but that he's escaped, making him a "former slave" as well.  Zilpha spins "linen for the townfolk" just like Thoreau spins philosophy--in his own way letting his "shrill singing" in his "loud and notable voice" carry his
message. He was very aware that many people found him strange and obnoxious, and even portrays Zilpha as running afoul of the soldiers, just like he did.  The witchy image he paints of her "muttering to herself over her  gurgling
pot--'Ye are all bones, bones'" is rather like Thoreau himself
philosophically, in that he has a very existentialist view of
what life is all about. Brister Freeman "planted and tended" just like Thoreau does at Walden Pond, and I think that the "their fruit still wild and ciderish to my taste" remark again reflects what Thoreau knew what other people thought of
his philosophy.  Wyman the potter is poor and runs into trouble with the tax man, just like Thoreau, and he creates pots, metaphorically creating something that few really understand the origin of until they really consider the essence of what it takes to become a "pot" beyond its utilitarian
purposes. Thoreau's pleasure in the "fictile" art being
practiced in the neighborhood is the same pleasure he'd like to see someone get from his work.  [EH]

  Thoreau relies on his memory "to conjure up the former
occupants of these woods" in "Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors." He does this because he has very few visitors during winter to keep him occupied. He recalls three slaves who once dwelled in Walden Woods. Cato Ingraham had his land taken away by the white man. Zilpha had a "little house, where she spun
linen for the townsfolk, making the Walden Woods ring with her
shrill singing, for she had a loud and notable voice." Mr. Freeman was " a handy negro" and his wife Fenda was a fortuneteller. Thoreau's recollection of the past at Walden is mournful as he remembers things which to him, do not seem possible at Walden. However, he does something interesting here. He aloows
himself to be a neighbor to these people who have come and gone.
He connects himself to the past of these woods and feels sorrow for the things that have happened.  [SD]

  "Former Inhabitants and Winter Visitors."  The characterizations of the individuals that Thoreau mentions in this
chapter reveal an out of the ordinary coexistence with nature.
All lived a rather brutish life of solitude, just like Thoreau had chosen to live.   Nature seems to serve as a history book, as it continues to
thrive where the long been dead inhabitants once lived. "Little did the dusky children think that the puny slip with its two eyes only, which they stuck in the ground in the shadow of the house and daily watered, would root itself so, and outlive them, and house itself in the rear that shaded it, and grown man's garden and orchard, and tell their story faintly to the lone wanderer a half century
after they had grown up and died." Nature is the only pure and
constant surviving remnants of the village. "Alas! How little does the
memory  of these human inhabitants enhance the beauty of the landscape!"   [HH]

   As Thoreau speaks of Cato living in th Walden Woods, it is interesting that he refers to he fact that some say he was a "Guinea Negro." With the Guinea pig being a big favorite in scientific experiments it is funny to refer to a person in that same manner. However in life many of us tend to take on the role of "Guinea --" in many situations. In the reference Thoreau states the fact as if it is not his thought but rather the thought of others when he says, "some say..." There seems to be a sense of sympathy for Zilpha who Thoreau sees as living a hard somewhat inhumane life. This reveals a compassion within Thoreau. He speaks of Breed so matter of factly, showing strength, even while knowing of the myth about the demon on this land. Then he speaks about Hugh Qyiuk and tells of how he came to be in Walden Woods. It is in humor that he pokes at this man stating, "Napoleon went to St. Helena; Quoil came to Walden
Woods." Thoreau in all his descriptions referred to people as if he did not know them but this is only what he has heard of them. He seems to be placing distance between him and the subjects of his conversations. [DS]

  Thoreau reveals through these characters that he has been
> suffering and celebrating because he realizes that others(society) aren't "living."Cato shows this in how he doesn't get what's justly deserved for his efforts involving the work that he endured.
By being empathetic to Cato Thoreau equates himself with a
former slave.  Then to deepen this image of denial Thoreau uses Zilpha, a colored woman, and shows how she was done away for living outside of society.  In Wyman the Potter we don't see denial but we see him complimenting on how nice it was to have a potter who praticed "so fictile an art"(174).   Ellery  Channing celebratory fashion in a statement comparing him above doctors  "His
business calls him out at all hours, even when doctors sleep." Thoreau works through and sets in "Former Inhabitants" a different heirarchy first belittling the old heirarchy of society in living to uplifting the simple way of life.   [AM]

  Question 2: "Winter Animals"
In "Winter Animals," Thoreau seeks companionship of sorts in
the animal world, while expanding on notions and metaphors
introduced in earlier chapters (note, for instance, how details in the first three paragraphs echo the chapter on Sounds). By now, of course, we should be well aware that whenever Thoreau is describing the natural world he is usually making observations about the nature of the human world as well. In a paragraph, consider how Thoreau's characterizations of winter animals (the hoot owl, the red squirrel, the jays, the hounds, and others) serve to reveal aspects of his own persona and philosophy. Be sure to support your observations with specific references to the text.
  "Winter Animals"   Thoreau turns our attention to the plentiful wildlife that moved through the snowy woods.  Some
nights he would hear "foxes ranging over the snow, red squirrels scampered over his roof, jays screamed from the tree tops, and chickadees pecked at the crumbs placed before the cabin door."  Thoreau seems to be in a depressed state and is represented by the hooting of the owl in the night. Thoreau seems to be struggling to overcome his melancholy. This in indicated when, at the same time the owls "resounded indefinitely far," the circling geese respond with cheerful tones.  "It was one of the most thrilling discords I ever heard." Thoreau seems to be growing anxious for the end of winter. "I . . .heard the whooping of the ice in the pond . . . as if it were restless in its bed and would fain turn over- were trouble with flatulency and bad dreams."  Thoreau appears to be recounting that the natural winter is causing him a psychological and spiritual winter but that he still has hope for change.  [SR]

  For Thoreau each animal is a character is his life. They
all have a role that he has given them, much like the roles that people play in our everyday lives. The owl, he represents the end of the day, whether in the form of the evening news anchor or our spouse. He is the person who says goodnight. The squirrel is the alarm clock. The first person we see in the
morning, the beginning of the daily grind. "Usually the red squirrel waked me in the dawn, coursing over the roof and up and down the sides of the house, as if sent to the woods for this purpose." The hounds and the foxes spent their
time in the woods on the hunt for one another and various other animals.  This again shows how Thoreau used the animals as he did the history to create a neighborhood around him, they were his friends. The animals entertained him and kept him from getting lonely in the dead of winter.  They were his retreat from himself and his thoughts.   [SH]

  In "Winter Animals," Thoreau seems thoroughly familiar with the habits of his closest neighbors - the furry and feathered varieties.  We learn in detail how the red squirrel scampers about, how the jays steal the kernels of corn
he dropped, how the chicadees pick up his crumbs, and so on. And a number of times, Thoreau refers to the animals as "familiar" - the tit-mice "were so familiar" that one perched himself atop an armful of wood Thoreau was carrying, and the hares "were very familiar," with one staying under his
house all winter. It seems that he has devoted a great deal of
attention to the animals of the woods, and I suspect that his respect for these animals surpasses his feelings for humans in general. After all, when considering the time a sparrow perched upon his shoulder, he felt that he "was more
distinguished by that circumstance than (he) should have been by any epaulet (he) could have worn." Then, the hounds "prov(ed) that man was in the rear." This respect for the animals is contrasted by his statement concerning the
man searching for his dogs. The hunter was "not the wiser," for as Thoreau states, "every time I attempted to answer his questions he interrupted me by asking, 'What do you do here?'"
       There also seems to be some emphasis in this chapter on waste.  In pausing "as if all the eyes of the universe were fixed on him," the squirrel wastes "more time in delay and circumspection than would have sufficed to walk the whole
distance." Furthermore, he's guilty of waste in "nibbling at
first voraciously (then) throwing the half-naked cob about... So the little impudent fellow would waste many an ear in a forenoon." Then later in the chapter, Thoreau points out that "It is remarkable that a single mouse should thus be allowed a whole pine tree for its dinner, gnawing round instead of up
and down it..." I'm not sure if it's of any significance, but
it's something I'm still chewing on.  [JR]

  Humans are capable of much higher thought than animals yet if we do not make use of it, we are little different. Thoreau observes this with the animals; "may there not be a civilization goin on among  brutes as well as men?" The red squirrel reflects his philosophy that men are in
such haste as to never appreciate important things or value each other as human beings. He observes their "speed and waste of energy, making inconceivable haste". The jays, on the other hand, Thoreau had no respect for because "in a stealthy and sneaky manner they flit from tree to tree,
nearer and nearer, and pick up the kernals which the squirrels
have dropped" then "attempt to swallow in their haste a kernel which is too big for their throats." This is an illustration of Thoreau's thinking that mere imitation of someone's actions or trying to use someone else's ideas
will not be beneficial to you if at first you do not understand
them yourself. But the chicadees took the crumbs and reduced them is a smaller proportion, "till they were sufficiently reduced for their slender throats." Humans should not be in a hurry but take time to appreciate the
little things in small doses to better understand them.  [AH]


   Winter Animals--The hoot owl's "forlorn but melodious note" is like Thoreau's own voice.  He bemoans the state of the world in beautiful words, while seldom seen in the open "while it was making it." The question "What do you mean by
alarming the citadel at this time of night consecrated to me?"
is metaphoric of the same kind of question that some in society will surely ask of him about the book "Walden." What do you mean by questioning the way we like things? The red squirrel being "sent out of the woods for this purpose"--to
wake someone up--is metaphoric of what Thoreau hopes that
"Walden" will do for others once they read it.  He realizes that some may just find "entertainment by [his] manoeuvres" as he moves back and forth while addressing an issue instead of attacking it head on--just like the squirrels, and that he could easily "be in the top of a young pitch pine" (ie: back at
Walden Pond) if the outside world makes a threatening move in his direction.  The jays share that same loud and annoying tone as Zilpha did, indicative of Thoreau's perception of his own voice, and the metaphoric image of them disgorging a kernel too big for them to swallow and then spending "an hour in the endeavor to crack it by repeated blows with their bills" is indicative of Thoreau's own tactic of taking an issue too big to swallow apart by slowly beating it into fragments. The pack of hounds represents the role of the blind obedience of authority that Thoreau is trying to escape from--similar
to the police were sent to collect his taxes, "unable to resist
the instinct of the chase."  [EH]

  In "Winter Animals," I really saw a lot of Thoreau's
feelings about the natural world vs. the human world. He makes a connection here. Thoreau uses each animal in this chapter to represent a particular element in his life. The squirrel probably represents the significance of morning and the internal alarm clock which is inherent in all of us. It represents the coming of the new day and new opportunities. The owl can signify the nocturnal
element. It is the comfort we find when night comes as we draw
closer to another day when new possibilities are certain. Thoreau
surrounds himself with these elements of nature to form a closer connection, much like the one he forms between himself and the memories of slaves in Walden Woods.  [SD]

  Thoreau uses various winter animals to represent different elements of Walden that have now become a part of him. Just as the muskrats have built their home out of sight, Thoreau similarly lives in solitude, free to roam about without the fear of unwanted guests. The owl represents his loneliness during the winter, yet reminding us that, although he sleeps he still exists.  He is not seen, but he is heard, echoing in the distance, for the other inhabitants to acknowledge. Thoreau's description of the fox is symbolic of
his desire to break away from the solitude in search for rude
entertainment of civilization. "Barking raggedly and demoniacally like forest dogs, as if laboring with some anxiety, or seeking expression, struggling for light and to be dogs outright and run freely in the streets; for if we take the ages  into account, may there not be a civilization going on among brutes as well as men?"  The partridge represents his courage. "For this brave bird is not to be scared by winter...It is Nature's own bird which lives on buds and
diet-drink." The rabbit represents Thoreau's ability to blend
in with nature and continue to survive in the harshness of winter. Society is represented by the hounds that continue to look for food (life), yet end up in circles, losing there scent, for they have no knowledge to what is before their very own eyes.  [HH]

  In this chapter Thoreau gives us a summary of how each animal has effected his stay in the Walden Woods. When he speaks about these animals he lets us see how he sees them. For example
he continuously refers to the foxes as demons and doing evil things such as, "...barking raggedly and demoniacally like forest dogs,..." The owl seems to have a life of mysterybecause he can never see the owl when he is talking but he knows that it is there. Then the red
squirrel is there to remind him to arise in the morning, like a rooster in the country. These things lead me to believe that Thoreau sees everything around us as representive of something pertinent in our lives. No matter how frivelous something may seem when you look into its meaning it can definitely play some type of role in your life or help you identify with some aspect of life.  [DS]

   Thoreau in "Winter Animals" provides descriptions of
animals that link to the society in which he lives setting off analogy for  kind of person. The hoot owl is representative of a person
actually "living" and it terrifies the the things around for being
awake in the late night. In this given instance a goose is present and it disturbs the owl and the owl responds showing alertness.(181) Whereas, the red squirrels with it's depiction represents an element of entertainment that people who don't understand and can't understand things pertaining to life give to Thoreau an actual "walker in life." "All day long the red squirrels came and went, and afforded me much entertainment by their manoevres."(182) Then the jays are those people who don't take the time to break down life. The jays are shown with this right now attitude when they attempt to eat a "kernel which is too big for their throats..." and it chokes them. Thoreau then elaborates on hounds being in the woods after several days still hunting down a fox and it seems to compare here the person who hold tightly to duty. The hounds were taught how to catch a fox and that was their job. Yet, the notable thing in this
instance is they never achieved their duty for their master because
another hunter ended up shooting the fox. To these duty oriented hounds it gave a puzzle that they couldn't solve. The mother dog stopped the hounding because they were struck "dumb with amazement..." All of these features from the hoot owl, squirrels, jays, and hounds appeal to a philosophy of life that's held by a person. "Do you think I am ever caught napping at such an hour, and that I have not got lungs and a larynx as well as yourself?" Are words that Thoreau gives to the owl that causes problems in his actual sleeping but also seems to emphasize to the reader that he is enthralled in alertness with the owl.  [AM]


10 October 1999
Class Responses to Questions on "The Bean-Field," "The Village," and "The Ponds." 

Guidelines
In concise and coherent paragraphs, please respond to the following questions via e-mail no later than 5:00 p.m. this Sunday (October 10).  (There is, of course, no single correct answer to any one of these questions; I'm looking for thoughtful--and thought-provoking--responses that are clearly supported by direct references to the text.)  Responses will be posted to this web site on Sunday evening.

  Question 1: "The Bean Field"
In "The Bean-Field," after describing in detail how he hoed beans, Thoreau asserts, "It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans."  Here he contradicts himself to make a point: clearly, he's talking about something more than hoeing beans.  (As he also remarks in the chapter, "some must work in fields if only for the sake of tropes and expression, to serve a parable-maker one day.")  In a paragraph, explain what you think is the symbolic or metaphorical significance of Thoreau's "singular experience" of cultivating beans (" . . . what with planting, and hoeing, and harvesting, and threshing, and picking over, and selling them . . . I was determined to know beans").  Be sure to support your observations with specific references to the text.

   [In "The Bean-Field,"] Thoreau describes how each morning he enjoyed attacking the weeds that were in his field.   "I learn of beans or beans of me?  I cherish them, I hoe them, early and late I have an eye for them; and this is my day's work."  It was more than work to Thoreau; it was the opportunity to have a prolonged close contact with nature.   Here was just another chance to enjoy life to the
fullest.  The narrator criticizes those farmers who till the soil only for financial gain. "As I had little aid from horses or cattle, or hired men or boys, or imporved implements or husbandry, I was much slower, and became more intimate with my beans than usual."  Thoreau
wished to live a spiritual life, but he also wanted it to be a natural life. Thus he came to the profound power of growing beans. "They attached me to the earth, and so I got the strength of Antaeus." The method of raising beans enabled him to establish a way of life in a state between nature and structured civilization. "Mine was, as it, were, the connecting link between wild and cultivated fields." He sees himself as a symbol of the link between nature and modern society. The bean-field is a metaphor for the narrator's self that needs the simultaneous experience of wilderness and civilization. Fufillment, contentment, and tranquility are the real produce that the narrator reaped from his bean-field.  [SR]

The example of the bean field is a metaphor for life, used
to make the point that men (people) spend so much time on cultivating their lives, meaning their work, that they rarely leave time to cultivate their personalities and relationships.  He explained how he cultivated the bean field including how much time, money and effort went into the project, and then he finishes the explanation with, "Why concern ourselves so much about our beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men?" He further emphasizes the point later in the paragraph.  "Here comes such a subtle and ineffable quality, for instance, as truth or justice, though the slightest amount or new variety of it, along the road.   Our ambassadors should be instructed to send home such seeds as
these, and Congress help to distribute them all over the land. We should never stand upon ceremony with sincerity. We should never cheat and insult and banish one another by our meanness, if there were present the kernel of worth and friendliness.  We should not meet thus in haste.  Most men I do not meet at all, for they seem not to have time; they are busy about their beans."  [SH]

  Thoreau's experiences in the bean-field could symbolize
many different things.  When he hoes the field he finds evidence of
past generations who had also cultivated the soil.  After this
passage, he says, "It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans."   (p.222).  This seems to reflect the importance of past generations, our ancestors, in following their teachings, and the continuous cycle of both man and nature.   He refers again to the ancestors on p. 226, "This generation is very sure to plant corn and beans each new year precisely as the Indians did centuries ago and taught the first settlers to do as if there were fate in it."  However, I think Thoreau is saying that it's not enough just to copy the actions of those we consider to be great.   He compares his seeds to the virtues of sincerity, truth, simplicity, faith, innocence," (p.226) but he goes on to say men fail to maintain these virtues if they merely imitate another's actions and not truly possess these virtues.  It reminded me of the Biblical parable of the sower--sowing seeds, some will prosper, others will not.   Thoreau doesn't want people to imitate him
or anyone else, but to think for themselves.  At the bottom of p. 226 he says, "Why should not the New Englander try new adventures" and " why concern ourselves so much about beans for seed, and not be concerned at all about a new generation of men?"  He says on p. 227 "Most men I do not meet at all, for they seem not to have time, they are busy about their beans" and continues, "husbandry was once a sacred art; but it is pursued with irreverent haste and heedlessness by us our object being to have large farms and large crops merely". Thoreau thinks we tend to focus more on end results than the means to get those results, but he seems to suggest that the means is more important.  We should value quality more than quantity.   [AH]

  The first thing that jumped out was the combined length of his rows.  Seven miles!?!?  I didn’t believe that at first but then saw that he planted two and a half acres.  If you do the math I guess it could come out to seven miles.  He may be hinting at something with the number seven, it has a certain significance in some religious circles. He has different reasons for the bean field. They change in the course of the chapter from the practical (he had to do something with his time, "… labor of the hands, even when pursued to the verge of drudgery, is perhaps never the worst form of idleness," exchanging them for rice) to the spiritual (they attached him to the earth, to serve a parable maker, it’s meditational value). The "parable-maker" is Thoreau.  The parable is hinted at in the Evelyn quote and is later revealed.  The beans were the "seeds of sincerity, truth, faith, innocence and the like."  He put them out to see if they would grow. Three summers later he has come to the conclusion that they "were worm-eaten or had lost their vitality, and so did not come up."  [GG]

   The metaphorical significance of Thoreau's
"singular experience" of cultivating beans is that he transcends the
actual labor of hoeing beans and becomes submerged in the melody of his actions as his hoe "tinkled against the stones."  He contradicts himself to make the point that his labor is no longer the absolute focus, rather it is now on the knowledge of those things he does not know but wants to know better. "... I was determined to know beans," represents Thoreau's thirst to get at the root of what is unknown and what is natural. [SD]

Thoreau's bean-field is symbolic for his spiritual inner self. By
cultivating the land, so that it would grow and develop, he was in turn nurturing his soul. It is not a job that can be done with help
from others; It can only be done through strenuous work on your own. "As I had little aid from horses or cattle, or hired men or boys, or improved implements of husbandry, I was much slower, and became more intimate with my beans than usual." Which is so true. No one can concentrate on nurturing their own soul when they have distractions. Day in and day out he tended to his crops-his true self, filled with weeds and other pesky critters-distractions, which get in the way of his work. Thoreau became in tune with himself, and
in turn, in tune with nature. Everything becomes unified into a
"singular experience" in his beanfield. Past, present, and future all
lies within the soil, the seeds, and what will sprout from them. "When my hoe tinkled against the stones, the music echoed to the woods and sky, and was an accompaniment to my labor which yielded an instant and immeasurable crop. It was no longer beans that I hoed, nor I that hoed beans; And I remembered with as much pity as pride, if I remembered at all, my aquaintances who had gone to the city to attend the oratorios." (H.H.)

Thoreau's experience in of cultivating beans is representative of learning who you are in life. Sometimes we do the same thing over and over again and never really learn what we are supposed to get from any one particular experience. Thoreau wants us to, "Consider the intimate and curious acquaintance one makes with various kinds of weeds,..." This passage is Thoreaus way of telling us to consider all the various people and situations that we come in contact with in life. Some things that we come in contact with are not always good for us, but they are essential for our growth as a person. Cultivation is the key to this chapter. Just as beans have to be nurtured and cultivated to produce nutrients, we too must be cultivated to
produce nutrients in our lives and for the world.  [DS]

  ("The Bean Field")  When I first started reading this chapter, it
reminded me of the teachings of a Russian (at least I think he was Russian) mystic named Gurjieff. Gurdjieff founded something called "The Fourth Way School." The purpose of this "school" was to bring its students to a higher level of consciousness and mind/body
awareness, and in fact one of the first things Gurdjieff had his students do was get down in the dirt and start doing some manual labor. This angered most of the students, because they were mainly wealthy artists, actors, and other pampered types that came
from aristocratic backgrounds. Gurdjieff's idea was to get them to connect with the earth and with their bodies, and experience the joy of completing simple, practical tasks. Much of "Walden" seems to be compatible with this philosphy. Since "Walden" came first, I imagine Gurdieff was probably very influenced by it.  However, Thoreau then talks about harvesting virtues, if only it were so easy. I think his point is a pessimistic one: We can acomplish so much just with our hands and the soil. Why can't we use the same diligence in making ourselves better human beings? He makes the analogy of the worms getting in the way and destroying the harvest, which I take to mean material distractions, the same animal nature that he says we
must rise above when he discusses vegetarianism.  [RL]

  The laborious achievement of hoeing beans is representative
of the on going development of self we go through in life. The weeds
are constantly picked out and we learn special things about each
weed or weakness (something that dulls us). The beans then grow and we see the results of our hoeing. Yet we realize that the experience of the hoeing or > the working through life was the true pleasure not the result which > manifests. Thoreau shows us this continously by demonstrating the > adventure he had when he cultivated "Daily the beans saw me come to their > rescue armed with a hoe, and thin ranks of their enemies, filling up
the trenches with weedy dead."(108) In this along with others
Thoreau shows the daily works of life in nature as being thrilling in of
itself and not something to be foresaken. Then further in reading in "The Bean Fie ld" the point is driven clear of how all cultivation is important whether land or human cultivation. "We are wont to forget that the sun looks on our cultivated fields and on the prairies and forests with no distinction."(112) Every part matters in the whole work of the development of life not just the things looked on highly.
Thoreau also elevates squirrels above the common attitude of man to show how nature is not so much concerned with results so much as the enjoying of the process to the results."The true husbandman will
cease from anxiety, as the squirrels manifest no concern whether the woods will bear chestnuts this year or not, and finish his labor
with every day, relinquishing all claim to the produce of his fields, and sacrificing in his mind not only his first but his last fruits also."(112)  [AM]

    Question 2: "The Village"
"The Village" is not only the shortest chapter in Walden but perhaps the most ironic.  (Are his daily strolls to the village truly "refreshing," as he notes in the second sentence?  And, in any case, how much of this chapter is truly concerned with the village?)  In a paragraph, identify what you think is a particularly significant passage (a sentence or a few lines) in this short chapter, and discuss its significance (particularly as it relates to the development of Thoreau's persona and/or the discoveries he has made during the course of his "experiment" in confronting the essentials of life). 

  Thoreau's sense of humor comes into play in this chapter.  He begins by stating his love of society and then goes on and shows how little he relishes it. "I went to the village to get a shoe from the cobbler's, I was seized and put in jail, because, as I have elsewhere related, I did not pay a tax to, or recognize the authority of the state which buys and sells men, women, and children, like cattle, at the door of its senate-house." Once back in the woods, the narrator found it easier to think about "high things."  When considering how people often lose their way in the woods on dark nights, he came upon a transcendal truth.   "Not till we are completely lost, or turned around--for a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes
shut in this world to be lost--do we appreciate the vastness and strangeness of Nature."   Transcendence depends upon creating a new vision or reality and one's relationship ot it.  To create a new life depends upon seeing a new world, as though one were "lost" and seeing a world never known before.  [SR]

  "Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost
the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations."  Thoreau seems to be mocking the people of the village. He hints that they have no idea about themselves or their lives.  They merely walk around their lives with only gossip as their experience.  In the above mentioned quote, he seems to be insinuating that in order to truly understand yourself and your goal in life, you must first remove yourself from the crutch of your routine.  By removing all that is familiar, you then have a chance to see what is real.  The significance of the experiment, is
the individual experience of life.  [SH]

   I marked two quotes in particular that I found important.
First, on page 230, " I escaped wonderfully from these dangers, either by proceeding at once bodily and without deliberation to the
goal . . . or by keeping my thoughts on high things."  Like so many other quotes of Thoreau, these can be words to live by.  He didn't get caught up in all the gossip and socializing but instead set a goal in his mind and pursued it--thinking only of high things, things that mattered.  The other is the last quote of this section on p. 233. "The virtues of a superior man are like the wind; the virtures of a common man are like the grass; the grass, when the wind passes over it, bends."  This is an excellent metaphor which could be used for a sermon illustration.  It shows Thoreau's philosophy that a superior man's high thought, not necesarily intellectual, but on matters of the heart and soul will influence, and change others to rethink their ways and actions.   At any rate, this leaves the reader something to ponder.
[AH]

  The last quote of "The Village" could have been lifted directly from the Tao Te Ching.  It’s significant because it reinforces (to me) his identity as the sage, the old Zen master.  So far, the whole book seems to be an account (in parable form) of his search for truth. When I saw those lines, especially after reading "The Bean Field,", his role as a spiritual tutor became even more apparent.  Like someone said on one-list, he sure knows a lot about eastern philosophy for a country boy.  [GG]

"For a man needs only to be turned round once with his eyes shut in this world to be lost" is a particularly significant passage in this
chapter. It reveals Thoreau's personal development as he attempts to discover the essentials of life. During his "experiment" in the woods, Thoreau finds that if you stop paying attention to life for even a moment, you can lose your way. But it is not until you are lost, or turned round that we "appreciate the vastness and strangeness of nature." When the material world is no longer known to us, we can find ourselves and our place in the natural world. It is this which brings us to know our relations with nature and all of God's creations.  [SD]

Thoreau's persona is clearly evident in this passage. "I had
gone down to the woods for other purposes. But, wherever a man goes, men will pursue and paw him with their dirty institutions, and, if they can, constrain him to  belong to the desperate odd-fellow society. It is true, I might have resisted forcibly with more or less effect, might have run "amok" against society; but I preferred that society should run "amok" against me, it being the desperate party."
Thoreau's philosophy of life is revealed here. Society wants to label
you a stranger-an outcast-when you do not conform to its standards, bringing it benefit in the process. However, Thoreau refuses this and
portrays society as the odd-man, blind to what was before their very own eyes, the simplicity and joy in nature.  [HH]

  "Every day or two I strolled to the village to hear some of the gossip which is incessantly going on there, circulating either from mouth to mouth, or from newspaper to newspaper, and which, taken in homoeopathic doses, was really as refreshing in its way as the rustle of leaves and the peeping of frogs."   This passage in particular shows me how Thoreau understands the need for balance in life. In the solitude of the Walden Woods Thoreau is able to think and search and learn new things. In looking at the animals around he sees that they all play a part in the big picture. In cultivating the beans he sees that live too need cultivation. In visiting the village he sees that even in the peace of live confusion is necessary to and even refreshing for one who is not around it all the time. The gossip helps to keep us in touch with what's going on in the village and life. The fact that it is gossip has little to do with the fact that it is informative. This keeps us from being in a bubble away from all civilization. This is just as necessary as peace and solitude.  [DS]

  (The Village)  The most significant passage is contained in the
second to last paragraph: "I am convinced, that if all men were to live as simply as I then did, thieving and robbery would be
unknown. These take place only in communities where some have got more than is sufficient while others hane not enough." A good summation to a chapter that is really about all that is wrong with "city life." I think Thoreau returns to the village as often as he does because he finds it interesting to observe, now that he has the perspective of an outsider. His emotional distance allows him to skewer the aimlessness and frivolousness of most people's lives.
There are some great passages, especially the description of gossip (high and low forms) and the image of Thoreau trying to get past all the shops and bars by acting like Orpheus, singing the praises of
the gods to block out the seductive voices of the Sirens.  This might well be my favorite chapter because it is the funniest, and Thoreau seems to be really coming into his own, both as writer and philosopher.  [RL]

  Thoreau doesn't seem so much concerned with the greatness
of the > village, but is concerned with the village as a comparison
point of what he's come away from. Starting on page 115 with "Some who live in outskirts....." to "Not till we are lost, in other words, not till we have lost the world, do we begin to find ourselves, and realize where we are and the infinite extent of our relations." This section of the text presents the village as something in which you step away to gain perception. In life, we can relate to how this perception is developed when we too leave our surroundings for something different and most importantly new. We step away into the unknown which is fearful. Yet what we gain in knowledge and experience from this supercedes the original > uneasiness about leaving comfort. Thoreau shows us that we need to > lose our compass so we can be lost. Walden proposes in this chapter as well as any let's get lost in nature and find ourselves in a different land all together.  [AM]

    Question 3: "The Ponds"
In "The Ponds," Thoreau appears to be guiding our reading when he remarks, "I am thankful that this pond was made deep and pure for a symbol."  After considering Thoreau's description of the pond as an eye, as a mirror, and in terms of the sky, write a paragraph or two in which you discuss what you think Walden Pond symbolizes.  (Be sure you have read to the end of the chapter, and support your observations with specific references to the text.)

  The ponds can best be described as a cluster of metaphors which is destined to illuminate Thoreau's concept of the ideal self.  At the beginning of "The Ponds," the narrator metaphorically informs us that he has made a connection within himself.  "It was very queer,
especially in dark nights, when your thoughts had wandered to vast and cosmogonal themes in other spheres, to feel this faint jerk, which came to interrupt your dreams and link you to Nature again.  It seemed as if I might next cast my line upward into the air, as well as
downward into this element which was scarcely more dense.  Thus I caught two fishes, as it were, with one hook."  Walden Pond was now an integrated version of the fufilled self.  With this metaphorical relationship in mind, you can see Walden Pond as a symbol of purity. Like the snake earlier, he has purified by giving up his old life and the corrupting influences of society.  You can see his process of purification in his descriptions on bathing.  His purification of spirit is represented by the pond.   "So remarkable for its depth and purity . .
. it is clear and deep green well . . . this water is of such crystalline purity . . . all the fishes which inhabit this pond are much cleaner, handsomer, and firmer fleshed than thouse in the river and most other ponds, as the water is purer."  [SR]

   I think Walden pond symbolizes how we as humans will never
be; deep and mysterious, yet pure and beautiful. Instead we are shallow and unappreciative.  We lack understanding of nature and destroy whatever is in our path.   We only share one quality with Walden pond that Thoreau points out.  "How much more beautiful than our lives, how much more transparent than our characters, are they?"  We do have a beautiful gift, the gift of life.  But unfortunately, we do not care about it.  Therefore, we are as Walden pond is, transparent.   [SH]

   The pond symbolizes purity (I think in the eastern sense). Thoreau uses the pond as a church, a place to meditate, a source of enlightenment.  It is his "well already dug."  Looking into a lake, "the beholder measures the depth of his own nature."  Although the fish in Walden aren’t as plentiful as in other nearby ponds, they are "all very firm fish, and weigh more than their size promises."  Another Lao Tzu style phrase jumped out at me in the last paragraph--"They are too pure to have a market value; they contain no muck.  How much more beautiful than our lives, how much more transparent than our characters, are they!"   [GG]

I think Walden Pond symbolizes the purity of nature. Thoreau
says the pond is "a perfect forest mirror." He refers to it also as "sky
water." This pond represents Thoreau's idea that in the natural
world (God's world), nothing can "defile" the purity and fairness of the pond's beauty.  Nature constantly repairs itself and therefore it is protected. The pond represents the idea that unlike the artificial goods in the material world (Man's world), Walden's Pond is "too pure to have a market value" and therefore it is this treasure that is truly priceless.  [SD]

  The pond is the mirror to the perfect spiritual world that
exists, which we cannot see. By observing the pond, all of life's most
beautiful things are revealed to those who will stop just for one minute and look. Everything that could possibly be known is within and around Walden pond, and Thoreau has had the privilege to experience the constant spiritual perfection of it.  "It is itself unchanged, the same water which my youthful eyes  fell on; all
the change is in me. It has not acquired one permanent wrinkle
after all its ripples...the same thought is welling up to its surface that was then; it is the same liquid joy and happiness to itself and its Maker, ay, and it may be to me."   Walden Pond is the eye to heaven or truth and purity. By looking into it, we can rest in solitude knowing that a spiritual life is a beautiful and perfect life. The endless possibilities to this perfect life that can so easily be ignored, are portrayed by the different color reflections seen on its surface. It's limits are none. As Thoreau explains, "Some think it bottomless." Perhaps the little poem Thoreau wrote sums it up quite nicely.
"It is no dream of mine, To ornament a line; I cannot come
nearer to God and Heaven Than I live to Walden even. I am its stony shore, And the breeze that passes o'er; In the hollow of my hand Are its water and its sand, And its deepest resort Lies high in my thought."  [HH]

   Walden pond takes on the same meaning for me as the
river (or was it a lake?) in "Siddhartha." The mirror and eye imagery is appropriate. It seems to be a place where one can be very contemplative. A place of inner peace and stillness.  This is where the Buddhist undertones seem to shift into high gear. "Over this great expanse there is no disturbance but it is thus at once gently smoothed away and assuaged, as, when a vase of water is jarred,
the trembling circles seek the shore and all is smooth again." This passage could just as easily have come from Zen writings.  Interestingly, Thoreau uses the end of the chapter to again make a point about the superficiality of "modern society." : "but being liquid, and ample, and secured to us and our successors forever, we disregard them, and run after the diamond of Kohinoor." He is
saying, I think, that we often fail to appreciate the simple beauty that surrounds us, because we are often in search of unattainable, superficial beauty. [RL]

   "The Ponds" especially that of Walden Pond refers to a
> transcendent quality that water represents to Thoreau. It
seems that being associated with Walden Pond is to grasp on to different elements of   immortality. The pond as an eye, as a mirror, and in terms of the sky illustrate this in a vast array of ways. As an eye one can see into the > pond and see it as bottomless"(120). The eye deals also with the viewpoint > of color and how infinite the viewpoints can in life when trying to > examine something on internal levels. On page 119 the pond looks "vitreous greenish blue" as well as others looking directly down on saying it has "a yellowish tinge." Yet, we know that "the pond" only shows viewing to see the things under the surface and not truly the pond itself. "Yet a single glass of its water held up to the light is as colorless as an equal quantity of air."(119)  The sky also allows the pond an eternal proportion by being able to see on a clear day the infallibility of the pond "...I observed that the pond was remarkably smooth, so that it was difficult to distinguish its surface..." Finally in the mirror metaphor we
can encompass all things with Walden Pond. Thoreau looks into
Walden Pond and shows the "bright tint of an October sky", as well as depicting itself as a mirror "...the perfect forest mirror, set round with stones as precious to my eye as if fewer or rarer." The way the pond is looked at as reflecting and giving sight to everything around Walden seems to set up the pond as the authority that forests, bugs, and other land around seems to be set by. Thoreau even ranks Walden Pond's body of water and location as being better than all others around to show that it's not just the water aspect that gives allusions to purity, and spirituality but it is Walden Pond that represents the ability for Thoreau that he "cannot come nearer to God and Heaven."  [AM]

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