Walden

To Go Fishing in the River of Time: A Book Review of Walden

I read the book Walden in senior high for the first time, in Chinese. I still remember the feeling when I finished reading in the evening, looking around my classmates buried in their study, and thinking about the meaning of our struggling work. Through rereading Walden in English this time, I gain a lot more, rather than just questioning ‘why should we work hard’. I feel like having a discussion with Thoreau, and learning about his attitude towards the world.

Thoreau accepted an education in Harvard, and after teaching in school for a few years, he came up with the idea of living near a distant, desolate lake called Walden, in an attempt to know what it takes to just meet one’s basic need of life. He lived there for two years, thinking and writing, and eventually collected his thoughts and words in the book Walden.

Thoreau’s words reflect a picture of the author himself: wisdom, strict but somehow interesting. He quotes a lot in his each passage, from Confucius to Socrates, from myth of ancient Greece to Indian philosophy, which gives his words a sense of truth. In an innocent view, he observes the rats in his house, birds in the forest and fighting ants in his field. Thoreau expresses his affection for nature without reservation, and argues for the significance of mental wealth.

As for Walden’s content, it shows a free, unfettered attitude, and it may not be trying to express something, it just conveys a warm, sweet feeling. Walden is the kind of book that involves one’s great attention and reduces any fickleness. Only by reading with a pure heart can you meet a real Thoreau, and understand what thought Walden tries to convey.

Many people think that Thoreau is a weird, lonely man. But in the chapter Economy, Thoreau says: ’I enjoy loneliness, actually I haven’t met a partner better than loneliness.’ That is true. In no sense is he a lonely man. Thoreau is a man rich in mind, enjoying his great wisdom.

There is a view that Thoreau is similar to Tao Yuanming, in the prospect of returning to nature. But Thoreau differs from Tao in the attitude towards the nature. Tao goes back to nature to escape from the real world and seek for peace in his heart. In contrary, Thoreau dives into nature in an attempt to get the truth of the world, and to better understand the nature. Tao tends to be absent from the society while Thoreau is always enthusiastic about the society. They reflect two contrary attitudes towards life.

Thoreau wrote the book in 1840s, when America had just finished its Industrial Revolution. At that time, the great abundance of social wealth resulted in a public trend of pursuing money and status. Thoreau emphasizes seeking out mental wealth rather than money. In rapidly developing China of present time, we are facing a circumstance similar to Thoreau’s American society, and that makes Walden a must to read for us Chinese people.

2019-12-26

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