“He was unheeded, happy, and near to the wild heart of life.” I think that this sentence from “Detrital Wash” would really strike Thoreau in the right spot. He would see this and encourage Mcandless to continue his actions.
Thoreau’s tone in Walden is pretty much essential to the book’s purpose. The tone of Walden is a combination of many. Walden’s tone is sometimes angry when Thoreau rants about society and other times’s persuasive when he attempts to “wakes his neighbors”. Without Walden’s tone it wouldn’t be much of a book. The tone delivers the message the author is trying to admit.
Thoreau says in chapter 2 “Our lives are frittered with detail.” I think that if Thoreau were to be here today he would find that our situation were to be worse. We are constantly distracted with new technology and just “things” that we have lost sight of transcendentalism even more and we will refrain from becoming completely at peace.
I think the closest I’ve ever come to being at a peace at Thoreau’s level would be at my Great Grandmother’s house. Her house was always a place where I could go to reflect on nature and the world. Her house was in Greenwood, a small farming community where everyone was family like. I remember longing to go to her house as a little kid because it was so peaceful and it had it’s own atmosphere I don’t think I’ll ever forget. That place was my Walden.
I think that using modern technology will help a lot of people to get through the book. It will help us relate to the book more easily. A book written 160 years ago will obviously not be the same as a book written today and the use of technology will help us to better understand Walden. It still won’t be a breeze but it won’t be a hurricane either.
