Book Review

Walden is a famous collection of essays written by American writer Henry David Thoreau, which consists of 18 essays. These works described two years’ life the author spent alone near Walden Pond, and at the same time recorded his many thoughts about society and life. Thoreau was born in the first half of the 19th century in the United States, when the country was transforming from an agricultural society to an industrial society. With the rapid advances of the capitalist economy in the United States, the money worship, the hedonism and the individualism were constantly emerging, the ugly side of human nature is increasing faster than ever. People were busy acquiring more material wealth, however, the unrestricted exploitation of natural resources by human beings had caused unprecedented damage to the environment, and human had already received severe punishment from it. The pollution and destruction of natural ecology and social atmosphere had already threaten the natural and spiritual environment, which mankind relied for existence. At this time, Thoreau left the city and went to live alone near Walden Pond. Walden not only provided a place for Thoreau to live, but also gave him a peaceful atmosphere for his thinking. Two years later, his work Walden came into shape. Among these beautiful essays, what impresses me most is the second chapter, Where I Lived, and What I Lived For, in which the author described the wonderful idyllic lifestyle and showed us what he thought was the real charm of the place where he once lived. The author also described the scene that he toils on the soil by himself, at this moment, Thoreau realized that “live or die, we only pursue the reality”. He gave his own answer to the title of the article. Whether this answer is correct or not, it reflects the author's ideal rules of the world and his understanding of what is happening outside the wood. The whole book is written in the same way. Thoreau shows his thoughts through different opportunities, such as sounds and visitors, and then consider things like how to live, how to perceive nature and how to find the meaning of life. In the book, it is clear that Walden Pond is not outside the world. Many times when I am reading this book, it reminds me of Shen Congwen's essays, especially Xiang Xing San Ji. Both of these two collection of essays were written in the era of change, both of them contain it’s author’s thoughts on the development and change of the society. However, Thoreau's thoughts were more from the perspective of ecology and paid more attention to feeling the nature, while Shen Congwen's thoughts were more from the perspective of people and more focus on the preservation of the beauty of human nature. No one is better or worse between these two perspectives. Both of them could make people think about that “in the endless development, what is more important than the development itself”.