Then answer the following in preparation for your essay:
1.) Does Walden appeal to our "sense
of rebelliousness and individualism"? Are we "inspired by his idealistic actions
and principled and good-humored erudition"? Do we enjoy thinking about how we
might take a more "Thoreauvian approach" to our own lives?
2.) How do modern conveniences and gadgets
influence our culture? After reading Thoreau, are we now eager to give them up?
3.) Can we consider how doing and thinking
for ourselves is made possible (or impeded) by modern educational and cultural
institutions?
4.) To which "genre" (or genres) does
Walden belong?
5.) What is Thoreau's relationship to his
audience and to society as a whole? How does he situate his narrative persona?
That is, what kind of person is the "I" in the text, and how do we know?
6.) How can Walden be considered as an
application of Transcendental philosophy?
7.) Choose one tenet of transcendentalism and
explain how Thoreau affirms, complicates, or rejects it in a chapter in
Walden.
8.) Locate passages in the text that seem
directly comparable to one of the other authors we've read -- especially
Emerson, but possibly also others, like Franklin. How does Thoreau use one or
more of the ideas of this author?
9.) Discuss the way that Walden
redefines a familiar word, such as economy, travel, or shelter.
10.) Since Thoreau's text proceeds from the
central metaphor of Walden Pond (in the same way that Whitman's "Song of Myself"
on p. 1238 proceeds from a blade of grass), how does each chapter of Walden
define some overlooked philosophical or metaphorical aspect of nature?
11.) How can Walden be considered as a
response to the "runaway train of nineteenth-century growth, industrialization,
mass agriculture, and capitalist values?
12.) Consider Thoreau's work as a reformist
response to one of the following:
-
industrial capitalism
-
manifest destiny
-
technological progress
-
slavery
ESSAY QUESTION:
As describe in Walden what is Thoreau's assessment of American Culture (what is wrong with it)? Using specific evidence from the text discuss and outline his argument. Then respond to it. Do you agree or disagree with his insights? Discuss.
A good website to look at is Cumming Study Guides - go here
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