美国文学

The relation between nature and men in Thoreau’s Walden Over the years, modern humanity has been rapidly destroying the natural world on which it depends for survival. Everywhere on the planet, man assumes himself the ruler and conqueror of nature, doing things as desire drives him, quite insensitive to all other natural entities. Therefore, Pollution is generalized. Thousands of species are being mad extinct every day. Human destruction of the natural world in this way makes the planet progressively less habitable. If man continues the present pattern of human activity, there will be a major decline in the condition of nature and the quality of human life. In no more than a few decades, the planet will even cease to be capable of supporting complex forms of life. Then how can man make his peace with nature and enjoy it? What is the ideal man-and-nature relationship? The 19 century American transcendentalist writer and preservation thinker, Henry David Thoreau, as early as 150 years ago answered the questions in Walden.

Walden, which is Thoreau’s masterpiece, records the two years and two months that Thoreau spent alone in the woods near Concord. What Thoreau quests in Walden Lake is how can man and nature get along better, since for quite a long time, man and nature are opposed, they are not in a state of adaptation, However, Walden Lake shows

the harmony of this unique concept, it can make numerous people find a spiritual resting place in the secular world. While such a world may be somewhat difficult to achieve, still he showed us in his works after all, laying out a beautiful natural picture. I am going to discuss the harmonious man-and-nature relationship as reflected in Thoreau’s Walden, along with the significance of his ideas in the modern society.

First of all, Thoreau’s call to simplify is not only a way of living, but from the perspective of desire motivation criticism, also an attitude man should adopt towards nature. Desire motivation criticism is an important ecological thought of the 20th century. In order to understand it, one has to make clear, first of all, of the desire motivation theory. Of all ages, thinkers have agreed that human desire is the tremendous impetus that promotes the development of society.. Therefore, Thoreau called upon man to practice a simplified lifestyle as a way to end man’s abuse of nature because it is after all the craze for luxury that results in the destruction of the environment. Thoreau is also against hunting, for any creature holds its life by the same tenure that he does.

Secondly, i n Thoreau’s eyes, nature exists for its own sake. Man should harmony with nature. Through a close contact with nature, Thoreau gradually formed his own views on man-and-nature