Perambulation of the Mind (Walden)

Though there are many themes throughout Walden, to find one’s self is the most important theme from Walden.  Finding one’s self, allows people to understand themselves and show their true personality.

Thoreau’s life revolved around being happy he became happy once he found himself.  In the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, he secluded himself from society, to see what experiences nature could offer him.  He wanted to understand his life better.  As he was explaining why he moved into the secluded woods. He stated “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Where I lived, and What I lived for, 5).  He secluded himself from society to find his truth self.  He did not want to die to realize he had not lived.  Thoreau believed that going into the woods would teach him the things he did not already know about himself.  By secluding himself, he found his true understanding of life, and this is what he believed everyone should do. He found that being alone in the woods was his calling.  He found himself, and that made him happy.  Another example of how Thoreau found himself and how it made him happier was when he was explaining why he enjoys being alone,  “I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time.  To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone” (Solitude, 4).  For him, that solitude was how he found what he loved to do, and that is why he believed he was on this planet.  He enjoyed being left with his own thoughts. The main theme of his writing was not to copy his lifestyle but to find what makes people happy and find where to live and what to live for.  Thoreau believed that humans are so busy starving out the thoughts or things they have.  Instead of being hungry for the thoughts or things they don’t have.  If one moves forward and becomes hungry for new, that's how people will find themselves.  Find a calling and life will become so much happier.