The Life of Henry David Thoreau essays

The Life of Henry David Thoreau essays Henry David Thoreau was an American born writer, born in the early 1800s. He led a simple life as a scholar, a brother, and a friend. Thoreau wanted only to live life and enjoy it. He didnt want to worry himself with money, or the burden it causes. Thoreaus life, though short lived and long ago, was devoted to change, simplicity, and defiance. Thoreaus ideas and beliefs were not common in his day. In fact, some of his work was even frowned upon. His essay Civil Disobedience is one example. Under a government which imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also a prison. (Thoreau, essays 12). Thoreau means that while men are being unjustly imprisoned, the men that imprisoned them, believing they are just, are the ones that are wrong. Another example of Thoreaus non-conformity is prevalent in his essays on slavery, and his defensive arguments for John Brown, an abolitionist who was on trial. During Browns trial, Thoreau makes a speech to the court, and in it says We can at least express our sympathy with, and admiration of, him and his companions, and that is what I now propose to do. ... Slavery he deemed to be wholly opposed to, and he was its determined foe (Thoreau essays 43). Thoreau was defending a man who was on trial because of his hate for slavery. In his time, when slavery was widely accep ted, it was a very brave thing for him to do. Thoreau wanted only to make change in the world, and contest the beliefs of society. Thoreau was bent on the simple life, and relaying this love to his followers. "Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand. . . " (Thoreau walden) Thoreau is trying to convince people that there is no sense in letting life overwhelm you, only concern yourself with what you must. In an exploration of Thoreaus life, Robert Richardson wrote...