Analsis of Values Based on Thoreau’s “Walden”

Argument Based on Thoreau’s Walden

In a modern society like the United States, it is hard to find out what a true value is, because of its complexity. There are all different kinds of values, such as family values, moral values, materialistic values, etc. A person’s value system is determined by many factors, including time, location, background, education, as well as other people’s values in the same society.

I believe that self value is more important than materialistic value, and many materialistic values in the current society are detrimental to humans and nature. I take this standpoint because I read a famous book “Walden” written by Henry David Thoreau and agree with his ideas on values. Thoreau lived in the mid 1800’s, which is the Post Enlightenment Period which includes many great philosophers and politicians. They wanted to discover what nature was. They wanted to categorize their knowledge about nature and wanted to understand nature, but they had little interest in manipulating or changing it. During the evolution of human race, people always want to live in a civilization while maintaining the wildness of nature at the same time. Unfortunately, there is always a conflict between civilization and nature, because we have to disrupt nature in order to build our civilization. Which one is more important, nature or civilization? People in different eras have different views which are determined by the cultural values in their times. Many people in today’s society believe that they need to have a high standard of living. They want not only the basic needs for life, but also the luxuries, like living in big mansions and driving luxury cars. They waste their money and time because they want to make their short lives more enjoyable. They judge the value and rank of a man in the society from his belongings, such as the house, the car, the jewelry and the amount of money he owns.

I once had a Korean classmate who had never worn any same clothes for the whole semester. What she had worn were all luxurious dresses to show her wealth and her distinction from other students. Though she would never like to talk to the classmates, they still admired her and even envied of her because they would do the same thing had they had the money. Sometimes without the money, indulgent people nevertheless will borrow the money and “enjoy” the life in the same way. I know a couple living in the Bay area, who are in their late thirties. They bought a nice house on a mortgage which does not give them much room for any other luxury items. Recently, they bought a second-hand Mercedes 600 convertible for sixty thousand dollars. They take care of the car like a newborn baby, washing and polishing her every weekend. They never dare to drive it on the freeway because they are afraid of being hit by other people. Even worse, more and more people are learning how to make money easily, super lotto, robbery, smuggling, drugs, legally or illegally.

Why do people want those luxuries? Because they are taught to live in luxuries. This is the main cultural value of our society. America is a society based on commerce, trading and business. Profit is the only goal of these activities. The more luxury the product is, the more profit the business earns. You can see some famous figures boasting about the luxury of some merchandise in the commercials on the TV screen and in other media. In the long run, this has gradually changed the cultural value in our minds to the materialistic side. On the other hand, our mother nature has taught us the difference between a human and an animal. That is a human need not only a physical life, but also a moral life. The moral life is more important than the physical life, because the physical is limited by nature, but the moral life is unlimited. People who believe moral life is not important have to struggle very hard and push their physical limits in order to get what they want. This is probably the reason why there is always high pressure behind lots of families in this country. People will never satisfy with their situation, since they always want to have more money and luxury. What they get can only satisfy them temporally, and the empty feeling inside their hearts will dominate them forever. The tension of work will turn them more like a machine rather than a human. They do not have time for themselves or their families. People will forget them easily after they die, because they do not have their own thoughts or ideas left behind. Moreover, materialistic value can never represent the real value of a human being. All great philosophers in human history lived simple lives, some even in poverty, but the knowledge they brought to us is more valuable than a million merchants. Many Americans work very hard to get the luxuries, like the couple I mentioned before. Why did they buy that car? Because one of their friend bought a Mercedes in order to show off and they wanted to be on the same “level”. People put themselves into debt and enjoy the “luxury” while being punished. They suffer from anxiety, depression and other psychological problems. Sometimes there are ways to make some money easily instead of working hard, like the super lotto we talk about all the time. Some of the lotto winners will spend all the money quickly and enjoy for a short period of time. Some will save the money and try to make more money out of it. Some others will keep the money and worry about losing it, like the character in “Le Pere Goriot” written by Honore De Balzac. Goriot lived in fear and anxiety his whole life and died miserably with a heavy burden in mind. They could never realize that the value and treasure they dreamed of had become a killer for themselves.

In “Walden”, Thoreau asked a famous question, “why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?”. That is my question, too. Living in luxury will never spark the genius inside a man. Instead, genius comes from self value, which is the gradual acquire of knowledge through education and work. A happy life begins from who a person is, not what he owns. Self value will be more fruitful any materialistic values. We will live for a higher purpose other than cars, houses, jewelry, money, etc. In order to do these, We will need to educate ourselves, spending our valuable time learning in school. Of course we will work, but work will be a way to educate and award ourselves. We can have our own ideas; it is a great pleasure to work with inspiration in mind. “Every morning is a cheerful invitation”, every day is a new day. We will have more inside ourselves rather than just the physical bodies. We will have more time to communicate with the saints and correct our errors in life. We will have more time with our friends, families instead of working like crazy on the job. We will have a longer fruitful life and our knowledge and thinking will benefit our descendants in the future. A life like this will be more abundant in moral values, finding the real value and truth of life. Maybe people will ask why don’t we enjoy the luxuries since they are already available to us? As stated by Thoreau, “Most of the luxuries, and many of the so-called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind.” First, people have some basic needs for survival, like a residence, food, clothing and transportation. The basic needs change from time to time. At any time in history, it is not difficult to satisfy all these basic needs. Second, luxury is not helpful to the development of human body. For example, people build many luxurious cars with V-8 engines. They are very powerful, but consume a lot of energy and give out more pollution, which is harmful to humans. Third, luxury is deleterious to the development of human morality. The more we enjoy the luxury, the less we care about the self value, the less moral we are. Once the luxury is gone, everything is gone. There is no hope, there is nothing left. Thus we should resist the temptation of the excess luxuries in the society and improve the self value inside ourselves.

After evaluating Thoreau’s ideas and other opinions in the current society, I believe self value is more important than materialistic value. Many materialistic values in the current society are detrimental to humans and nature. Materialistic values can never represent the real value of a human being because it will not spark the genius inside a man. Instead, self value can be acquired and accumulated through learning. It will benefit both our body and mind. We should try to live a meaningful life through more education, either in school or at work.