Economy by Henry David Thoreau

Economy

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “Economy”, in a man made cabin in Walden ponds in Massachusetts. Ironically the land that he lives on for the two years is owned by Ralph Waldo Emerson. He served as a mentor to Thoreau, as well as a land provider as we see. While on his two year journey between himself, nature, and his log cabin, Thoreau express the idea living a simplified lifestyle is beneficial to one’s well being, and includes his own personal proof that it helps him economically as well.

Thoreau stresses the idea of excess possessions in one's life to be not needed. They require large amounts of labor and money to acquire the use objects. Not only does it take hard work and salary, it takes away the spiritual sense of our lives. He claims that people feel that they need those possessions to live, when they actually don't at all. That need for items takes away inner freedom, something Thoreau gains while his experiment in the wilderness. He goes on to explain that the only four things needed in life is food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. Nature provides most of those things for us, which lets a person who accepts this to live a life of simplicity and low payments. Henry David Thoreau then explains that luxury is only a hindrance, and it stops the flourishing of self improvement. He applies all of this to his cabin that is made from the ground up. He makes the log cabin with simplicity and self reliance, with faith as the glue that sticks it all together. The log cabin wasn't the work of a highly skilled architect, nor was it the work of an average man, but it worked for him, he survived.

Thoreau made his way back to a normal life on July 4th, 1845, Independence Day. Not only was it the day for independence in the United States, it was a celebration of independence for him. He lived a very simple life in those two years, and he excelled as a person. He kept logs of the money that he saved while farming and living in nature. It came out to a...