Counterargument #2 Henry David Thoreau's "where I Lived, And What I Lived For" From Walden

ENG 1C 41213 4 April 2022Counterargument #2Henry David Thoreau's "Where I Lived, and What I Lived For" from Walden portrays the beauty of nature, self-sustenance, and revitalization. The author wanted to live for everything nature itself had to provide, rather than becoming preoccupied with trivialities, such as modern technology and materialism. While in his new home on Walden Pond, Thoreau writes that he woke each morning with a stimulating strength for life, and he was inspired by the light of the early morning hours. However, Thoreau contradicts himself when he asserts, "Why is it that men give so poor an account of their day if they have not been slumbering? They are not such poor calculators. If they had not been overcome with drowsiness, they would have performed something…. I have never yet met a man who was quite awake. How could I have looked him in the face?" (Thoreau 68). Thoreau has not earlier been so dismissive of the men's culpabilities, but somewhat he justifies them for not being conscious of "effective intellectual exertion," relating it to inadequate sleep. It is surprising that Thoreau defends the men that he typically describes with disgust and cares little about the