Thoreau's Walden: Points of Particular Interest

Chapter 1

• Note here (and elsewhere) examples of Thoreau's dry, New England wit. Contemporary critic James Russell Lowell accused Thoreau of being "humorless." I find Walden sprinkled with outrageous and delightful humor, beginning with Thoreau's "I should not talk so much about myself if there were anyone else whom I knew as well," on the opening page.
• The general theme of Walden, expressed in early on in this chapter, reflects Thoreau's inquiry into what makes life good, pleasant, and otherwise worthwhile. He reminds us that his sojourn to Walden Pond is an "experiment in living," not a prescription for living.
• The "slave-driver of yourself" paragraph on 1361 reflects the repeated theme that humans are prone to set themselves to vain, unpleasant tasks to no ultimate end.
• "[Most] men lead lives of quiet desperation" (1362) sums up the human unhappiness Thoreau observes.
• "...To learn what are the gross necessaries of life ..." (1364) offers a summation of the nature of Thoreau's Walden experiment.
• Thoreau's "self-appointed inspector of snow-storms ..." segment (1367-68) humorously describes his curiosity regarding the natural world.
• On 1375, he mentions how farmers are owned by their farms (rather than the other way around).
• The acquaintances who helped Thoreau raise his house frame (1383) included Ralph Waldo Emerson, Bronson Alcott, and Ellery Channing -- possibly the most intellectually distinguished band of house-framers in the history of carpentry.
• We should note that Thoreau did not purchase land at all, merely borrowing ("squatting on" is the term generally applied) a piece of woods owned by Emerson for the two years of his experiment.
• We will note the purpose of Thoreau's price lists, recipe experiments and the like: he wished to properly document his "experiment in simplicity," just as any researcher would document the details of an experiment. This reflects a bent toward empirical study, the foundation of science, rather than an obsession with the trivial.

Chapter II

• Begins with Thoreau's imaginary purchase of various area farms, with his entirely imaginary purchase of the Hollowell Place, which he may have genuinely thought about purchasing; it was ideal for his purposes, except that he could not have afforded to "leave it alone"; note earlier discussion of farms owning farmers.
• He describes intensely the closeness to nature of his Walden Pond shack -- birds next to him, the view of the pond, the woods obscuring all views of his neighbors (Thoreau was only a mile or two out of town; he well knew his "wilderness" to be illusion, and it was deliberately cultivated illusion at that).
• On 1409 Thoreau fully describes the intentions of his experiment: "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately..." This paragraph is the key passage regarding "why."
• In 1410-11, Thoreau reminds his readers of the cost of communication and trade (he alludes, regarding "sleepers," to the cost of the railroad in human lives); he notes how much of our concern with "news" is just an obsession with gossip. What is life with neither?
• Section ends with Thoreau's intent to "go burrowing."