Friday, January 21, 2011

How would you explain Thoreau's reasons for leaving Walden Pond?

Thoreau basically says that he came to the pond for certain reasons and now they are satisfied, and so is he.  His job there was done.  There were other things to do, and so he left. 

Specifically, he quotes, "I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there.  Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.  It is remarkable how easily and insensibly we fall into a particular route, and make a beaten track for ourselves."  He did not want living in the woods to become a mere habit, and felt there were other goals in life he was to pursue and achieve.

He has realized his dreams, and at the conclusion of Walden, he suggests that readers, rather than pursue success, should go their own ways at their own pace and love their lives no matter how humble those lives may be.

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