Nature: Thoreau's Path Out Of Alienation

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862), once regarded as "a minor writer" during his lifetime and even for a long period after his death, is now honored as one of the few greatest American writers of the nineteenth century. Among many claims made to regard him as a nature writer, an economist, a literary artist, an exponent of the simple life, a philosophical anarchist, and an environmentalist, Thoreau as a practical philosopher who is deeply concerned with how man should lead a meaningful life can alone account for Thoreau's presently established reputation, as it is the theme that has been frequently explored by many insightful minds. This thesis endeavors in this direction to prove that Thoreau's depiction of man's miserable being in Walden can be understood as his perception of alienation of man, and Thoreau's contemplation on nature can serve as a path ushering people out of alienation, based on parallels between Thoreau's writing and Karl Marx's theory of alienation.Karl Marx's concept of "alienation" may specifically refer to "the alienation of one's product", "the alienation of labor", "the alienation from other men", "self-alienation" under different circumstances, however, in each case the basic sense of alienation is the same, that is "a separation of some sort" resulting from "a certain surrender": i.e. "the surrender of one's control over one's product and labor. Like Karl Marx, Thoreau also perceives man's alienation from one's property, one's alienation from his essential nature, one's alienation of labor as the underlying factor of the overall alienation, one's alienation from other men, and self-alienation. Different from Karl Marx, Thoreau is more concerned with man's self-alienating factor, which is the surrender of one's control over his spiritual energy, while Karl Marx stresses the alienating economic system.In the next chapter, I discussed the impact of Romanticism and Transcendentalism on Thoreau's perception of alienation and his approach to it, as these two movements were conspicuously characteristic of that age. Seeing nature as the solution for man's miserable being, Thoreau conforms to Romanticism in "gazing at nature for revelation of one's greatness of his inner potentiality". Like other Transcendentalists, Thoreau is more concernedwith man's spirituality, rather than the hurly-burly of life, consequently, Thoreau is acute to see the blunder of disproportionate pursuit of material goods. More importantly, early influence of Emerson's view on nature and later participation in the transcendentalist movement has rendered Thoreau's contemplation on nature largely within the framework of transcendentalism.Thoreau's contemplation on the path out of alienation, which is embodied in his thought on nature mainly, is approached from four aspects: the doctrine of simplicity, self-culture, Nature and God, and Man as a part of Nature. The doctrine of simplicity can be seen as the most direct approach to alienation for Thoreau: To reduce one's needs to the greatest extent, so that he is no longer enslaved by the material needs. Self-culture is a call from Thoreau to properly employ one's spiritual energy, instead of surrendering it to others. Seeing God in nature, and man in immediate connection with God, Thoreau is able to achieve a unity among Man, God, and Nature. Stressing that man is a part of Nature, Thoreau has altogether overcome alienation.Thus, I conclude that the particular significance of Thoreau's idea of nature lies in its applicability to the theory of alienation and its practicability in finding a path out of alienation.