Book Review: Henry David Thoreau's Walden

Walden

So, yes, I finally read Henry David Thoreau's Walden. For a long time, I had read numerous quotes from Thoreau's works, including quite a number from this, his most famous book.

But this time, I finally read the book itself, from cover to cover (and it included a copy of his famous essay on Civil Disobedience). I started it while on a recent visit to Walden itself, something that had always been a dream of mine, but which had never happened before.

The thing is, this book has obviously been read already by so many. What could I possibly say about it that has not been said already? How to go about with a review of a book that was published almost160 years ago, especially one that has been dissected by so many people, and which has proven to be such a strong influence for so many people, literally numbering in the millions? This is a work that, along with it's counterpoint, commonly known as Civil Disobedience, proved so highly influential, including to such notables as Tolstoy, Gandhi, and Martin Luther King, Jr.? What can I possibly bring to the argument, or anyone's reading of this work?

Not much, perhaps. But having read it and been influenced (and yes, surprised) by it myself, I figured it was worth a shot. Who could it hurt, anyway?

It has a certain timeless quality to it, and a strong measure of serenity, as well. Once you have been to Walden, and you read the book, you cannot help but think of these woods, and imagine Thoreau going about his daily business within it, fishing in the waters, walking along it's paths, breathing in it's air.

But this is not a book that I would describe as an easy read by any stretch. This was not the first, or the second, or even the third try for me. I am not entirely sure how many times that I had actually tried to read the work before, but there were numerous times, and never had these efforts met with success before. Not sure what was different this time. Maybe it was the moment, that almost spiritual moment, while visiting Walden on such a pleasant, sunny, summer's morning, with the sun shining down, and the pond shimmering, keeping good company while I walked along it's shores. Maybe it was maturity. Probably it was both, and maybe it was something else, as well. Maybe it was just time, because I needed it at this moment in my life, having gone through some things, and needing some measure of guidance that the book could provide.

There were a few reasons for the rather extreme delay, and I don't think it would behoove you to go into detail over any of them. However, sufficed to say, I was familiar with many quotes from Thoreau's written works, and so thought myself more or less familiar with his writings and his way of thinking, his approach towards the wilderness, or at least towards Walden, in particular.

But I was wrong. This book was actually a bit different than anything that I expected, truth be told.

Of course, not all of it came as a shock, or anything. I have long known that Thoreau went out to the woods in order to live in the midst nature, and to appreciate it in a manner that was rather unique among whites living in the middle of the nineteenth century, the way that Thoreau did.

That said, it should be noted, and this is not a minor point, that the natives who were here before us had a much greater appreciation for, and respect or even reverence of, nature. I don't think that it's a stretch to think that Thoreau might have been influenced more than a little bit by the natives approach towards living at peace with nature.

But it was the first time that someone from our modern culture really stopped in his tracks in order to think about where we were (and still are, because his arguments and criticisms of society in general are likely far truer of our modern society now than they were even back in his day). He overcame the general fear and distrust of nature that existed up to that point, the need to dominate, to subject it to our desire to dominate, our need to transform it to our liking. Perhaps to make it more productive, or profitable.

What he did that was unique was voice the opinion, to a modern audience, to leave it alone just for it's own sake. Again, natives had said this many times, but Thoreau voiced this opinion from within our culture, and in that, he was the first.

So, what surprised me about the book? Well, early on, he mentions something that seems actually quite relevant in the present - again, perhaps even more relevant in the present age than when it was written, back in Thoreau's day. That was the part when he focuses on indebtedness, and borrowing money in order to spend it to obtain things (mostly physical property, or land, but not necessarily restricted to it, as he also mentioned, specifically, clothes). He spoke about the tendency to borrow money systematically to buy things, and makes the point that what you "own" is not really "yours" until you actually have worked enough to have earned the money to pay for it.

Another element that surprised me when I first found out about it (although I knew about it before actually reading the book this time around) is to what extent Thoreau did not simply go out into the middle of the woods and live entirely under his own power. In fact, he has been criticized for this, and it is not a minor bone of contention, since he often seems to suggest that this is largely what he did. Yet, he enjoyed evenings out in the town of Concord with friends during his time at Walden, when the impression often times has been that of a complete withdrawal from society. In fact, he regularly saw others, and did not exactly retreat from their company. He was hardly what anyone would have called a true hermit, or anything, although what he did made him unique, and the book itself would go on to achieve a measure of immortality based upon the quality of the thoughts expressed, and not strictly as some kind of documentation of his actual actions and documentation of his exact style of life during these times. He lived close to Concord itself, which is within easy walking distance of the site of Walden Pond and Walden Woods, where Thoreau stayed (it is only a couple of miles, really).

Mostly, the idea of being able to step back a bit from the hustle and bustle that our modern lives demand is what this book tries to awaken the reader to. Taking a different approach, and understanding that there are other, perhaps higher, priorities in life, and that a different approach like this has some value. Being able to reflect, and indeed criticize, the society at large, and to understand how it (we might call it these days a consumer culture) is in fact consuming literally everything. Thoreau's emphasis on the nature, on the woods at Walden, are literally a testament to those woods, but symbolically, it is the "wildness", so to speak, within us (probably on both an individual and a societal level), that also needs to be preserved. The notion that these things have quality and are worth examining on their own was not exactly an accepted, let alone a popular, notion at the time, however much they may be glorified nowadays.

I would have added quotes but, knowing how liberally some people tend to use quotes from this book (and with strong justification, for that matter!), I thought that maybe it would be good to take a different approach in this review. It would be all too easy to buttress my own arguments, or thoughts, or personal philosophy, or what have you, with some of his own quotes, and perhaps would have lent them some credibility. I will admit, this was initially what I was going to do. However, it began to feel more formulaic than anything, so the focus became about a review, rather than a testament to the book, or some kind of personal monument or tribute. Maybe, some time in the future, I will indeed do something with it, and use some of my favorite quotes in the process. But for the purposes of this review, it seemed more direct just to give my impressions of the work, and how it affected me in real terms, rather than employ some breathy moments of supposed inspiration by using some powerful quotes that I read (or perhaps, misread). This has been a more honest review, and I am actually glad for it.

Now, to be fair, I must say that, technically, I may have read this book, or at least huge chunks of the actual book, without fully being aware of it. But that happened back in high school and, thus, really does not count, since I really barely paid it any attention (there was little that I did pay attention to back then, frankly), and so that hardly counts. I must say that this time, attention was paid. And so, if you have tried to read this work, and struggled to get through it, try not to get overly discouraged. It is not an easy work, especially for us now, in the 21st century. We are taught, implicitly, to rush through things, to get them done, and hopefully, to maximize their effects. Thoreau took an entirely different approach, and this is reflected in his writing style. It requires us to read it carefully, to pause and think about some of the quotes within, and to understand what vantage point he was taking. It is not a book that you can simply plow through and get what you are supposed to get out of that. That would be a true of some of my favorite authors, such as Stephen King, who has an amazing writing style in his own right. But we need to read Thoreau quite a bit differently. He almost demands it of us.

So, if you have had difficulty with this work and really want to read it (like me), then my advice is to take your time with it, but not so much time that you put it down to softly reflect on a point, perhaps closing your eyes to focus on a specific point or passage in the book, and then never to pick up the book again, or perhaps to awake yourself by the sounds of your own snoring, and to find saliva dribbling down your cheek. This is an incredible work, and there really are some treasures to be found within, that can truly be appreciated by reading the book through entirely, and not merely being acquainted with some of the more famous quotes and passages (although these have a good quality, as well). Just stick with it, and eventually, you will find that the pace of your progress just might surprise you.