Viewing a single comment thread. View all comments

Bigfrostynugs t1_j15gy4i wrote

Reply to comment by johnnyblueye in Do no conform: Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay Self-Reliance argues that we should strive for greatness and self-reliance rather than the "meanness" of conforming to the society's dead institutions saying that "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" by thelivingphilosophy

People who make this criticism have totally missed the whole point of Walden. It wasn't about isolation, it was about solitude.

He makes it perfectly clear in the book that he goes to town to see his friends and family every day. He makes it perfectly clear that it's Emerson's land.

He doesn't pretend to be a hermit. It's about the philosophical implications of spending time alone and thinking for yourself, not about being a recluse who depends on no one else.

1