Thoreau's notes on seclusion, the most beautiful natural prose and the most critical social thinking.
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Thoreau had a natural sense of loneliness. He doesn't like busy people, he just wants to be alone quietly. "On the whole, I am out of place in this world."
Later, the great writer Emerson bought a piece of land in Walden Lake area, which was quite quiet. So Thoreau got Emerson's permission and lived by the lake. Preparations for building a house began in spring.
Thoreau's family was not rich, so many tools needed to build a house were borrowed. The construction work is quite hard. He can only eat his own bread and butter at noon every day and read the newspaper wrapped in bread by the way. "Because there is thick resin on the hand, the fragrance of pine branches is also dyed on the bread."
On July 4th, Thoreau officially checked in. This day is the independence day of the United States; For Thoreau, it was the day when he began to be independent from the traditional social rules.
In order to earn money, Thoreau planted a small bean field and hoed and swam in the morning. Afternoon is mainly used for reading and thinking, and I will go for a walk in the village every once in a while to chat with you. At dusk, Thoreau would go boating on the lake, play the flute and watch the bass swim around. It was dark in the forest at night. Thoreau groped for the familiar trees and roads with both hands and feet, identified the direction and returned to the hut.
In autumn, hunters and diving birds play games on the lake. In October, Thoreau went to the river to pick grapes and returned with a full load. In winter, Thoreau began to build mud walls. When the lake begins to freeze, he will lie comfortably on the ice, like a bug on the water.
Thoreau said, "Living alone in the Woods, I am not lonely at all. I am no more lonely than a windy chicken, Polaris or the south wind. I am no more lonely than the rain in April or the snow in the first month, or the first spider in the new house. Because we are inspired by nature, we have sunshine, wind and rain, summer and winter. "
Thoreau's eternal companion is Walden Lake.
Walden Lake is named after a legend. A long time ago, Indians were punished in celebrations for blasphemy. Only one woman survived, so the newly formed lake was named Walden Lake after her.
These detailed, interesting and affectionate descriptions of nature constitute the skin of Walden Lake. However, under such a beautiful and gentle skin, there is a proud skeleton, which is Thoreau's thinking and criticism of society.
In Thoreau's view, labor is evil and leisure is virtue. That's why I said in my diary, "Freedom is a great art", and my desire will never be satisfied. If you pursue desire forever, when is the end?
Thoreau's viewpoint coincides with the "materialization" theory put forward by Lukacs, a later philosopher and literary critic. The so-called materialization means that the fruits of human labor in turn become the power of ruling people. Thoreau said, "We are all poor. Although we are surrounded by luxury goods, we are not as comfortable as barbarians. "
So, how can we get out of this dilemma? Thoreau's answer is only two words, and that is simplicity.
Thoreau said that there are only two things in the world, one is luxury and the other is necessity. He advocates that desires should be controlled only within the scope of necessities, so that very little labor can be satisfied, and the time saved can be used to enrich our hearts and improve our morality.
Thoreau has always admired China's Confucianism, and should often quote The Analects of Confucius from Walden Lake. Confucius commented on Yan Hui's words-"One scoop of food and one scoop of drink, in a mean lane, people can't bear to worry, and they won't change their fun when they go back." It should also be Thoreau's ideal life realm.
But more importantly, get rid of external material constraints, find a lifestyle that really suits you, and stick to it. This is Thoreau's hope for everyone in his book clearly and seriously.
The second chapter of this book is entitled "Where do I live; The purpose of my life. In this chapter, Thoreau said: I went to the forest because I wanted to live cautiously, just to face the basic facts of life and see if I could learn what life should teach me, so as not to find that I had never lived when I died.
Life by the lake provides an excellent place to think. Thoreau said: "when we are forced to live so thoughtfully and seriously, we think that life can only be like this;" But in fact, there are many possibilities in life, because many radii can be drawn from the center of the circle. "
At this point, Thoreau's thinking has a clear answer. At the end of Walden, he wrote: "I left the forest for the same reason as I entered the forest ... I don't want to sit in the cabin anymore." I would rather stand in front of the mast and deck of the world, because I can better see the bright moon between the peaks from there. "
The famous poet Robert? Frost, born half a century later than Thoreau, is the most popular poet in America in the 20th century. He wrote a poem full of natural images and philosophy of life, entitled "The Road Without Choice": "There are two roads in a forest, and I chose the one with few people, which determines the road of my life." This is probably Thoreau's choice.