Book Review of Walden
Walden
Henry David Thoreau
Oxford University Press Inc,New York 1997
Below is a review of the world-famous masterpiece Walden written by Henry David Thoreau,an American writer in 1854 and republished by Oxford University Press in 1997. This book review is composed of four parts,including the time circumstance of the author’s creation,a brief summary of the main points of the book,the evaluation of the language style and the significance of this book to modern society based on personal perspective.
Walden was written in 1854,a time when the United States was at the beginning of its transition from an agricultural to an industrial age. With the pace of the industrialization of capitalist society,the United States experienced rapid social progress,the blooming industry and commerce led to the absolute dominant position of money worship and hedonism,which were greatly prevailing among the public,especially the youth at that time.Due to the unlimited and unscrupulous pursuit of wealth and money,people excessively occupied the limited natural resources and destroyed the ecological environment,reclaiming lands,cutting down forests and discharging large quantities of industrial waste gas and waste water.Therefore,the roar of big machinery can be heard everywhere whereas the bird song is difficult to find.The harmony between mankind and nature is gradually out of balance.In such an era background,as a naturalist,Henry David Thoreau started to thinking about the return to nature,which led to the publication of Walden.
Walden is the record of Thoreau’s solitude by Walden Pond from July 1845 to September 1847,describing what he saw,heard and thought.It contains 18 chapters in prose which fully show Thoreau’s inner longing,conflict,disappointment and self-adjustment,as well as his complicated inner course of re-longing after adjustment through several cycles until the final realization.Briefly speaking,Thoreau expresses his unique views on book,labour,life and nature in different prose.Take the first and last chapters as examples.In the first chapter,Economy,he describes his initiation into a life of self-sufficiency and his interactions with farmer and neighbors and criticizes the luxurious life of the rich,holding that“Most luxuries,most comforts of life are not only unnecessary,but also a great hindrance to human progress”In the last chapter, Conclusion,he tells all people his life style and ideal “Don’t give me love,don’t give me money,don’t give me fame,give me truth.Life in our bodies is like moving water,and novelty is pouring into into the world endlessly,while we endure incredible stupidity”.
Undoubtedly,Walden is of great aesthetic value with regard to linguistic style for its narrative person,graceful wording and varied rhetoric.Instead of presenting himself as an outsider,Thoreau presents himself in the first person,fully merging himself with Walden,directly revealing the natural beauty of Walden Pond through his own senses and emotions.In addition,the words used in the book are fresh,vivid and poetic,exuding a strong natural atmosphere.By seeing and experiencing,with fresh images and vivid language,Thoreau leads the readers to do a double trip,a journey of nature and spiritual purification.What’s more,Thoreau uses analogy and metaphor to write about everything in front of him.In his eyes,those natural things are not dead,but alive.
As for practical significance,Walden does make sense to our fast-paced and stressful style of modern life and the harmony between human and nature.Thoreau’s own practice at Walden Pond,as well as his work,has a consistent claim to return to nature.Nowadays,most of us are trapped by family,work and various material needs and have lost spiritual pursuit.Thus,we pay little attention to anything in such a beautiful and spectacular nature,which largely reduces the innocent happiness of our life.It is high time that we should slow down our pace to admire the beauty of nature and purify our souls.Thoreau wrote in Walden that“Most people,in my opinion,do not care for nature.They would sell their share of natural beauty for a glass of rum if they could survive.Men,thank god,are not yet able to fly,and therefore not able to spoil the sky as we spoil the earth,at the other end of the sky we are safe for the time being”His satire of human’s destruction of nature reminds us that we ought to reflect on what we have done.
To sum up,along with rich content ,beautiful language and abundant feelings,Walden is one of the greatest masterpieces in the history of world literature,which has brought comfort to the dull hearts of mankind , influenced the minds of generations and made an significant influence of human thoughts with regard to the harmony between mankind and nature.
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