The Village

"The Village" is about Thoreau's experience's observing the people and nature of Concord. In the beginning the tone is light and informative. Thoreau walks his audience through his thoughts while he observes the people. It is interesting how he incorporates nature in this first section. Thoreau says, "As I walked in the woods to see the birds and squirrels, so I walked in the village to see the men and boys; instead of the wind among the pines I heard the carts rattle." Here, he is comparing the two different scenes. Thoreau also uses the groups of muskrats to help describe the town. His purpose here is to show the similarity's and the differences, hopefully people will realize that the nature is much more layed back and organized. He makes it seem like he is above all of the gossip, which he may be, but he makes himself seem superior to his audience. "In one direction from my house there was a colony of muskrats in the river meadows...each sitting at the mouth of its burrow, or running over to a neighbor's to gossip." Here, Thoreau is comparing the two groups. His private experiences and first hand observations help the reader connect, but in a way he is making it seem like everyone who participates in these things are at fault.
In this chapter Thoreau mentions going to the cobbler and going to jail for not paying taxes. He is taking the story from Civil Disobedience and putting it into here. By his putting in the part of the story, people who already read Civil Disobedience might already have an opinion and carry that opinion over to this story. It isn't necessarily a good thing or a bad thing, it's just a risk for a short story. Thoreau's audience are those who want to learn or are interested in reform. Thoreau has many believers, but he doesn't have many followers.