"In the woods, we return to reason and faith. There nothing can befall me in life-no disgrace, no calamity, which nature cannot repair. Standing on the bear ground; my head bathed by blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space, all mean egotism vanish." To each man there are places to forget, places to ignore worries, troublesome thoughts, and lost ideals. For father and sons that place comes to be the Big Black Foot River. Rev. Maclean, Norman, and Paul find solace in the river; discover simpler standards for life, structure, and religion. The rhythmic, methodical current of the waters provide reason and faith, a return to gods green earth, a return how life was meant to be in the eyes of a transcendental. The author, the brothers, and the father; and the quest for purity. .
The beauty in the strength of mere words and the immense impact they have on the soul of man has been the inspiration to many of the greatest poets and writers. The ability to combine elegance with knowledge and thereupon affect the thoughts of others using only paper and pen has intrigued men for centuries. Henry David Thoreau proved to be the voice of his people and thus changed history by expressing the ideals he believed to be correct, though the majority of the people did not always understand these ideals. "I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations" (H. D. Thoreau). Of the likes, Father and sons often were misunderstood. The ideals shared amongst often shrouded the men from society. Too, misinterpretation encircled Thoreau, yet through diligent writing and life experiences he began to tear the veil of .
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conventional thought from societies clouded eyes. Man must increase his understanding of himself to understand the outside world. Had the brothers realized what that trickling flow did individually, would they have stayed? Had they known the wisdom, escape and relaxation gained from the waters would Paul and Norman been plagued with discontent and ultimate suffering?.
