Andy CampbellMrs. NogarrAP English 3, Period 6December 10th, 2013

Title: Where I Lived, and What I Lived For

Author: Henry David Thoreau

Discussed: December 10th, 2013

Chiasmus: “We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us. Did you ever think what those

sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man, an Irishman, or a Yankee man. The

rails are laid on them, and they are covered with sand, and the cars run smoothly over them.

They are sound sleepers, I assure you. And every few years a new lot is laid down and run over;

so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden

upon” (page 7)

Metaphor: “It matters not what the clocks say or the attitudes and labors of men. Morning is

when I am awake and there is a dawn in me. Moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep. Why

is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering? They are

not such poor calculators. If they had not been overcome with drowsiness, they would have

performed something. The millions are awake enough for physical labor; but only one in a

million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion, only one in a hundred millions to a

poetic or divine life. To be awake is to be alive.” (page 5)

Transcendentalism was a profoundly influential American philosophical and intellectual

movement in the early nineteenth century that stressed the triumph of emotion over reason,

and the ability of people to “transcend” their sensory systems to establish a deeper sense of

living. Among its most prominent writers was Henry David Thoreau, who summarized his life

and beliefs in 1854 book, Walden. His most noteworthy chapter in the book, Where I Lived, and

What I Lived For, reveals much about Thoreau’s beliefs and views of his changing world. Living

in an era of rapid industrialization, technology was driven to the forefront of national issues.

The drastic destruction of previous ways of life was understandably upsetting to some, and

frightening to others. Thoreau, like many others, was quick to denounce the benefits of

progress .Thoreau is stubborn to accept the idea that any outward improvement of life can

bring the inner peace and contentment he so incessantly craves. One clear illustration of

Thoreau’s resistance to progress is his issue of the train, which was a symbol of the wonders of

technological achievement. He sees it as a false example of social progress, claiming that “We

do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us”. This quote utilizes chiasmus, a device in which the

clauses are reversed to highlight the contract in meaning. It moves people from one point to

another faster, but Thoreau has little use for travel anyway. He feels it is far better to go ponder

life in a little corner of the woods for years than to commute from place to place unreflectively,

without reaching fulfillment in life. Thoreau is skeptical, as well, of the change in mindset the

railroads have brought about. He believes trains, like all technological improvements, give

people an illusion of increased freedom, but in fact represent new restrictions, since one must

obey the strict timetables and schedules of trains. Thoreau uses the metaphor of sleepers

under the track to give a visual demonstration of the dangers of technology. He implies that

those who benefit from technology are doing so at the expense of the workers, who are

“ridden upon”. Perhaps Thoreau was reluctant to travel because he feared what he might find.

He had established a world view so firmly engraved in his mind that he wouldn’t know what to

do if confronted with something that threatened it. Thoreau mocks travel as a “fool’s paradise”,

stating that the most valuable travel occurs without leaving your own home; the inward

journey to your soul.

A noteworthy view of Thoreau, and one that is most typical of transcendentalist

doctrine, is his rejection of reason and logic in favor of emotion. While Thoreau begins the

chapter with a discussion on the process of buying his new home, it later turns into a collection

of philosophical pondering and grand assertions. Thoreau speaks of man, out of touch with

reality, and in touch with his inner self, “whose elastic and vigorous thought keeps pace with

the sun, the day is a perpetual morning”. Thoreau has a highly romanticized view of morning,

which he holds to be the most important and productive time of day. Living in an era with the

introduction of clocks and the increasing importance of time-keeping, Thoreau finds this new

lifestyle stressful and distracting of the true goal in life, saying “It matters not what the clocks

say or the attitudes and labors of men. Morning is when I am awake and there is a dawn in me.”

Feeling threatened by the onslaught of industrialization and science, Thoreau justifies his

increasingly outdated views with his claim that it matters not what logic proclaims to be true,

but what you feel, that matters. To describe the state at which Thoreau feels he has reached,

fulfillment in life and nature, he uses the term ‘awake’, saying “The millions are awake enough

for physical labor; but only one in a million is awake enough for effective intellectual exertion”.

Clearly Thoreau does not mean everyone else is sleeping, but that only a few people seem to be

aware of what Thoreau argues. Clearly this view is biased; he feels as though only he has

deeper insight into the true meaning of life and everyone else remains blind. His diction is

extremely idealistic and passionate. Thoreau finds that most people are unfulfilled and lacking,

unable to distinguish between luxury and necessity, and are trapped in a living death that

suppresses everything wonderful about being human. Because of this, Where I Lived, and What

I Lived For perfectly exemplifies the individualistic doctrines of transcendentalism.