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Walden

 

            
             Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, is an autobiographical book that has a message for the reader. It is based on the author's own experience, who left his village and his belongings to spent two years living in the woods. All of this in order to comprehend the real meaning of his life, away of the complexity of society and its rules.
             The message of Walden is that human beings should not be so possessed for all the material things they already have or want to have. Rather, they should enjoy the simplicity of life, its nature, its kindness and its spirituality. .
             This message can be seen when Thoreau states, " I see young men, my townsmen, whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools, for these are more easily acquired than got rid of." He points out how human beings spend most of their lifetime taking care of the material things they have inherited or acquired, rather than taking care of themselves.
             Furthermore, Walden states that human beings work to hoard material fortune that they will have to leave when they die, "But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the soil for compost." It explains how material treasures take the best of human beings, making them to forget the real sense of life, which is the pleasure to receive what nature has already prepared for us. So, there is no need to occupy our entire lifetime trying to achieve accomplishments that are not certainly worth it. For example: wealth. .
             Also, Walden wants the reader to understand that luxuries are not necessary, "Most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only indispensable, but positive hinderances to the elevation of mankind." Most of human beings strive to get more than what they really need for a living. So their purpose to live becomes in having more and more every time, making them slaves of the wealth.


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