Walden - Reading Journal 3

Thoreau ends his book describing the surroundings of Walden, especially during the Winter time. He discusses his neighbors and their lives along with the changes that come with Winter. He claims his Irish neighbor as lacking the intelligence to understand Thoreau's wisdom. The Irishman is also described as inheriting Irish poverty, which is surprising after Thoreau's earlier comment about helping runaway slaves. As Winter approaches, he has to adapt a daily schedule along with less visitors despite that he cleared a path for them to reach his home. Also, his farming has given him many goods to live off of in the Winter. Winter also comes with the freezing of the Walden Pond. He spends most of his days exploring the phenomenon of ice. Finally Spring arrives and he has reached his goal at Walden, he can leave. To finish off the book, Thoreau summarizes all of his experiences. He challenges the idea that a change of scenery can make us healthy by suggesting that it is more of the change in soul than the scenery. He explains at this holds the same reason that he is leaving Walden, that he wants to experience other parts of his life. He holds to his transcendentalist views by telling us to let go of civilization and realize our true selves. Walden actually holds very little evidence that these transcendentalist views are true. Thoreau, although claiming to enjoy his stay, never found his true self. Nearly all of his stories tell of his visitors, neighbors, and observed phenomenon (farming, bubbles in ice, etc.), very few actually address nature and how it affects him. It feels that he just declares things true with only theoretical evidence.