Book Review: Why I Went to the Woods
- Details
- Hits: 8400
Henry David Thoreau was born in Massachusetts in 1817. In his journal entitled “Walden”. He explained about his journey to the woods on 4 July 1845. The themes of the journal are personal freedom, awareness and controlling nature. In chapter 2 paragraph 6, he says, "The universe constantly and obediently answers to our conceptions. David meant that an independent person decides on whatever way to go and the nature described here as universe ensures the existence of that route. There are no constraints on achieving the goals a person set or where to go.
On his journey to the woods from Concord, Thoreau stated, “In whatever speed I go, the path is mine.” He meant that every person has personal freedom of choosing the way that suits him. There is no external force that can block his thinking described here as conceptions. He meant that a man has control over nature and the nature becomes what man wants.
David’s interpretation of thinking that man has control over the nature goes against the view that nature and God have control over man because God created man and nature do not change so we need to go as per the nature because man can change his thinking. In this regard, it is our mandate to obey consistently the nature, which is the universe and God. To David, the universe is the one to answer to our thoughts and respond according to our wish, which is against the truth about nature. David went to the Woods so that he can explain the theme of personal freedom because he went against the norms of the society and felt that he was free to walk, think and do anything after building a cabin in Concord see pimpernel (2010).