Ch. 5 Solitude

Ch. 5 Solitude of Thoreau's "Walden" addresses one of his most basic principles of transcendentalism. The idea of being alone with the thoughts of oneself. That he may be completely deserted in a hut by a pond with no one within miles yet have still claim to have "a little world all to myself." He questions the measure of solitude, whether it is distance which makes a man alone, or perception. Thoreau says that "a man thinking or working is always alone, let him be where he will," and that whether a farmer or a student, both are equally within their own thoughts when doing the chosen work of their own hands. He believes that in relation to Nature which is vast and incalculable, the distance between men on this planet means nothing, as they are all in the same minuscule pinprick in the perspective of the milky way. He uses the phrase "Next to us..." to describe the grand things which are taken for granted which occur in Nature all around us. For him there seems to be no distinction as given by man, he claims "It is as much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars..." For him there is no value in names given, just a reverence to the grand scale of natural beauty. He believes nature is the connection between the divine and man, that it represents "the subtle powers of heaven and of Earth." Not only does Thoreau claim that one may be equally happy wrapped up in his own thoughts, given time to digest the virtue of his own soul, yet he even goes as far to condescend, and feel sorry for society, saying "it seems I am more favored by the gods than they..." Seperated from fellow man, Thoreau finds friendship in Nature. He finds that nothing in Nature is done with bad intention, even if intially it seems melancholy, Nature always has the grander plan in mind. If for his bean fields the rains "prevents my hoeing them...today is not drear and melancholy, but good for me too." He expresses his feelings that Nature is accesible anytime, while society meets "at short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other." Thus Nature, which is ever present gets to know the soul of a man, and reflects it upon himself.
Throughout his essay, Thoreau is writing to catalogue his own thoughts as much as writing to influence as wide an audience as possible, so his diction is relatively simple, and accessible. The piece is written as much to analyze his own thoughts, as to persuade others to them. These personal memoirs are written using "me", "my", and "I" as he tells his own personal opinions yet they are told in a preachy, confident, slightly pretentious way, which makes it seems as though he sees his words as undeniably true. At some parts he characterizes all of society using "we", seeing them all as basically fools. Aimed to appeal to everyone, it seems Thoreau expected no criticism or simply didn't care. The Chapter title of Solitude alludes very much to the obvious distinction Thoreau places between "solitude" and "alone." For him "alone" is the sense in which we are always with our own thoughts to keep us company. "Solitude" gives us a chance to digest these thoughts and reflect on ourselves.