Henry David Thoreau's Life Without Essay

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Furthermore, it is noteworthy that many of the views espoused by Thoreau within his works of literature were regarded with as much condescension, and perhaps outright disdain, as he seemingly regarded those pursuing the gold rush in the preceding quotation. For instance, it is known that of the 1,000 original copies that the author published of Walden, he was only able to sell approximately a third of it. To a certain extent, his commercial misgivings can be attributed to the lifestyle he advocated in that manuscript and in other works of literature such as "Life Without Principle." The following quotation from Nathaniel Hawthorne, who was a contemporary of Thoreau, illustrates the most common regard for the author and his views on living and the simplicity he embraced with nature. Hawthorne claimed that Thoreau "repudiated all regular modes of getting a living, and seems inclined to lead a sort of Indian life among civilized men" (Borst 1992, 38). Some of these "regular" ways of earning a living, however, such as through the fortune and industry of another (such as that of Emerson or that of his family), were actually employed by Thoreau.Therefore, it would not be too inaccurate to regard Thoreau as somewhat of a hypocrite for not being able to live up to the lofty standards he professed in "Life Without Principle." The truth of the matter is that a lot of his principles within this work (and others) was so ideal that it would have been difficult for anyone to strictly adhere to them.

Works Cited

Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury: Louisa May Alcott, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Margaret Fuller, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry David Thoreau; Their Lives, Their Loves, Their Work. Detroit: Thorndike Press. 2006. Print.

Thoreau, Henry David. "Life Without Principle." The Thoreau Reader. 1854. Web. http://thoreau.eserver.org/lifewout.html

Borst, Raymond. The Thoreau Log: A Documentary Life of Henry David Thoreau, 1817….....