An Analysis of Thoreaus’s Life Style and the View of nature Embodied in Walden文献综述

 2022-08-18 14:36:25

Literature review of

An Analysis of Thoreaursquo;s Life Style and the View of nature Embodied in Walden

  1. Transcendentalism

There was no doubt that Thoreau is a firm Transcendentalist. His views on nature, politics or others all embody the Transcendentalism. Thoreaursquo;s Transcendentalism was influenced a lot by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Under this kind of background, Transcendentalism was embodied everywhere in Walden, especially the Transcendentalism of Emerson.

Transcendentalists emphasize the subjective initiative of human beings. They believe that humanrsquo;s spirit can transcend all kinds of limitations of the material world, the perceptual world and the experience world. And the meaning of life is to explore, express and enrich ourselves. This kind of humanism spirit and self-reliance has great significance and far-reaching influence on the development of humanrsquo;s history. For people who are addicted to material desires, it is undoubtedly a timely wake up call.

Transcendentalists attach great importance to spirit, or which called over-soul. They believe that over-soul is the most important substance in the universe. The over-soul is everywhere. Everything originates from it and becomes part of it. Over-soul exists in nature and human beings. The over-soul is the incarnation of God. The incarnation of God exists in the body and spirit of human beings or nature. That is to say, God exits in man and nature, and man exists in nature, which means that man is also a part of God. In this sense, peoplersquo;s status is raised to a new level, almost equal to God. So, Transcendentalistsrsquo; views of nature are different from others. They consider nature as the incarnation of God or over-soul. In their view, nature is much more than matter. It has vita, the spirit which comes from God is full of it. Nature has great benefit to the spiritual world of human beings. Transcendentalists advocate returning to nature, exercising human beingsrsquo; spirit under the influence of nature, and then making human beings become spiritual people. The Transcendentalists not only love nature, but also respect nature. They love it because they guarantee regards nature as a mirror in which he looks at himself. The view holds that all things in nature have their own symbolic significance. That is to say, human beingsrsquo; mind is the spiritual world, nature is the external world, and nature is the external embodiment of human spirit. Emerson believes that nature is the symbol of the spirit: “The world is symbolic. Part of our language is kind of metaphor, because nature is a metaphor of human thoughts (Emerson, 1849: 31).” In his eyes, the spiritual world correspond to the material world one by one, which is just like the two imaged inside and outside the mirror. Therefore, the purpose of human beings is not to study objective nature in isolation, but to seek the symbolic meaning of nature or some facts existing in the human spiritual world by immersing in nature.

Transcendentalists also emphasize the importance of the individual. They believe that the most important part of society is not the others but the individual. Only with the continuous improvement of personal accomplishment and quality can the society develop continuously. Therefore, people should not indulge in the pursuit of material wealth, but should continuously improve themselves to promote social progress.

For Thoreau, a Transcendentalist, nature had great temptation. Hence, Thoreau spent a great part of his life exploring nature and trying to live in harmony with nature. His spirit of nature was mainly influenced by Emersonrsquo; s Transcendentalism. Emerson believed that nature not only had its own value of existence, but also existed for the benefit of peoplersquo;s spiritual development. These theories of Emerson deeply influenced Thoreau. But compared with Emerson or other Transcendentalists, Thoreau was ahead of the others in the courage to go to nature and practice, living in the woods by Walden Pond, and in close contact with nature. This was undoubtedly a crazy act at that time. Many people expressed their puzzlement. And even Emerson, who had made close friends with Thoreau, objected to it because he thought Thoreau was wasting his talent and life. But time has proved Thoreaursquo;s approach is correct, his ideas have a profound impact on future generations, Walden is also considered as one of the greatest works of Transcendentalism in American history.

  1. Thoreaursquo;s political views

The political reasons behind Thoreaursquo;s choice cannot be ignored. Although scholars both at home and abroad agree that Thoreaursquo;s act of hiding in Walden Pond is not “avoidance” like Tao Yuanmingrsquo;s, but an initiative to seek something true. However, there are similarities. It is undeniable that Thoreau and Tao were hindered in realizing their political ambitions. Unlike Tao, Thoreaursquo;s trip to Walden Pond was another form of resistance, or to further promote his political propositions through Walden. Thoreaursquo;s views of freedom has been deeply influenced by the ideas of the Liberalism that developed during the 17th and 18th centuries by European Enlightenment thinkers. He almost totally accepted such things as equality in human life, natural state, natural rights, rationality, natural law, social contract and natural human rights and so on. Such a series of basic concepts of modern western democracy based on humanism are closely related to the guarantee and realization of individual freedom and rights. In Thoreaursquo;s political propositions, he always focused on the maintenance of personal rights and freedom. He took a disdainful attitude towards the autocratic rulers. He believed that the individual was an important force to solve many problems between the individual and society, as well as between the individual and the government. In Thoreaursquo;s Civil Disobedience published in 1949, Thoreau directly described his views on the government. He believed that the government was at best an expedient, not a constant state. Thoreau put humanrsquo;s “conscience” before the government and the law. In Thoreaursquo;s opinion, human beings are paramount, and humanrsquo;s freedom is paramount. The government is only the way people choose to carry out their will and manage society, but it lacks flexibility. It may also be manipulated by someone or some people. In terms of results, it is abused and misused, which led to the ultimate violation to the freedom of the individual. The behavior of the government that claims to represent the public opinion, may be against the conscience of the individual.

Thoreau not only cared about the independence, freedom and equality of himself and American people, but also cared about the natural rights of all social people of different races and nationalities. It is intolerable to deprive any person of his or her natural rights. Thoreau always maintained his political propositions of equality and freedom, resolutely opposed slavery, and was disappointed with the American government at that time, so he refused to pay taxes. Thoreau also recorded in Walden that he was imprisoned in July 1846 for refusing to pay taxes.

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