We often think of writers simply as odd, reclusive figures that have no other role in society. That is even more true when we think of Henry David Thoreau and his reclusive life on Walden Pond. Read this short article. (Audio for this article is located here.) Then post a comment here that answers these three questions.
1. What is significant about the fact that Thoreau walked away from the financial gain his inventions could have given him?
2. Given what you know about Thoreau, was turning away from that wealth a good move?
3. Why do you think it is so rarely mentioned in English classes that Thoreau was a successful business man and inventor?
Friday, October 26, 2007
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1 comment:
1. The significance of Thoreau walking away fromt his personal profit that his inventions gave him was that because he did walk away he was able to write. He left the family business that would have been a much easier route to take, because of the wealthiness that he would have gained and America was in such poverty then it would have been nice. He walked away from what he had grown up learning to do waht he wanted to do.
2. I do believe that what Thoreau did by turning away his wealth to do what he loved, write. It was a good idea because with his writing he started a new style and he inspired so many people, such as Ghandi and Martin Luther King Jr. He spent his life doing what he wanted to do, and lived by his beliefs, the beliefs that he passed on to others.
3. I think that in English classes teachers don't talk about how Thoreau was such a good business man because that is not what he is most well known for. He is known for writing as a transidentalist, and thats what the English students need to know. Further, it is Enlgish class, not business class, so that is almost like extra unwanted information to teach and to learn.
-Breanna Kellogg
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