敬畏生命： 梭罗《瓦尔登湖》的主题分析

敬畏生命：梭罗《瓦尔登湖》的主题分析

2012届分类号:I106

单位代码 :10452

某某大学

毕业论文(设计)

敬畏生命: 梭罗《瓦尔登湖》的主题分析

姓名某某某

学号 200804690943 年级 2008级10班专业英语

系 (院) 外国语学院指导教师某某某

2012年4 月 20 日

Reverence for Life:A Thematic Analysis of H.

D. Thoreau’s Walden

A Thesis Submitted

to Foreign Languages School of xxxx University

in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements

for the Degree of Bachelor of Arts

By

Xxxx

Supervisor: xxxx

April 20, 2012

Acknowledgements

Many people have contributed to the writing of this dissertation by providing me their invaluable time, feedbacks, comments and critiques.

First and foremost, I would emphasize my greatest debt to Professor Gu Huiping, my advisor, who painstakingly went through the early drafts and provided generously detailed criticism. Without her advice and constant encouragement, it would be impossible for me to achieve the completion of this dissertation. Her expertise and patience gives this thesis more chances to be improved and polished. Deeply impressed by her kindness and strict style, I believe that her influence on me will be lifelong I would also like to express my appreciation to my classmates for their selfless assistance and patience in helping me at any time At last, I feel much obliged to my dear parents, who have brought me and support me all the time. No words can fully express my sincere love and gratitude for them.

Abstract

At present, the ecological crisis is becoming more and more serious and it is a fact that people are chasing material wealth blindly with no attention to the needs from heart, therefore, it is of great educational significance to explore Thoreau’s attitudes towards life embodied in his works Walden. Here the paper attempts to illuminate Thoreau’s life philosophy from three perspectives: returning to simplicity, eco-centric equality and pursuit of spiritual independence, which points out that Thore au’s idea of a good life is to live a simple, free life and to live with nature harmoniously. Thus, it provides a good way for people to get rid of spirit crises and to deal with nature correctly.

Key Words: Thoreau; Walden; simplicity; equality; spiritual independence

摘要

面对生态危机日益严重以及人们只顾追求物质利益忽视心灵需求的现实,探讨梭罗《瓦尔登湖》中所蕴含的对待生命的态度具有重要的教育意义。本文通过回归简单,万物平等,精神独立三个方面阐述梭罗的哲学人生观,指出梭罗所追求的理想生活是简单自由,与自然和谐共处的生活,这为当代人摆脱精神危机, 正确处理好人与自然的关系指明了道路。

关键词:梭罗;《瓦尔登湖》;简单;平等;精神独立

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements i

Abstract ii

摘要iii

Introduction 1

Chapter One Henry David Thoreau and Walden 3

1.1 Thoreau’s Life Experience 3

1. 2 A Brief Introduction to Walden 4

Chapter Two Thoreau’s Views of Life 6

2.1 Returning to Simplicity 6

2.2 Eco-centric Equality 8

2.3 Pursuit of Spiritual Independence 9

Chapter Three The Legacy of Walden 12

3.1 Influences on Ecological Literature 12

3.2 Influences on People’s Life Concept14

Conclusion 16

Works Cited 17

Introduction

Henry David Thoreau 1817-1862 is an outstanding American nature writer, philosopher, and environmental scientist. His masterpiece, Walden, depicts the beauty of nature and is not only a personal experiment with a natural life but also a holistic philosophy of the relationship between man and nature. At present, the ecological crisis is becoming more and more serious and it is a fact that people are chasing material wealth

blindly with no attention to the needs from heart; therefore, it is of great educational significance to explore Thoreau’s attitudes toward life embodied in his Walden After the mid-1990s, some important research monographs on ecocriticism were published in America, such as, Rebecca Stefoff’s The American Environmental Movement, Lawrence Buell’s The Environmental Imagination: Thoreau, Nature Writing, and the Formation of American Culture and The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology collaborated by Cheryll Glotfelty and Harold Fromm and Jonathan Bate’s Romantic Ecology: Wordsworth and Environmental Tradition, Christopher Belshaw’s Environmental Philosophy: Reaso n, Nature and Human Concern , Which points out that Thoreau is today considered as the first major interpreter of nature in American literary history, and the first American environmentalist saint. The research development on ecocriticism in England could be represented by Laurence Coupe’s The Green Studies Reader: From Romanticism to Ecocriticism. And recent critical work includes David M. Robinson’s Natural Life: Thoreau’s Worldly Transcendentalism 2004 and Greg Garrard’s Ecocriticism and David Mazel’s A Century of Early Ecocriticism. Not until 1949 was Walden introduced into China. Its first Chinese version was translated by the famous Chinese writer Xu Chi, who regarded it as both a book full of life wisdom and a book embodied with vivid and beautiful description about nature. Thoreauvian study in China mainly focus on

Thoreau’s idea about nature, highly praising his respect for nature and further affirming his important role in eco-literature such as Chen Kai’s The Ecological Ideology: Thoreau’s View on Nature, and Guan Chunhua’s Thoreau and Nature: Reflections on Thoreau’s Walden Pound. The first monograph on Euro-American Ecological Literature in China by Wang Nuo was published in 2003 by Beijing Press University. However, up to now, most of the studie s are just focus on the interpretation of Thoreau’s works on ecology but do not make deep exploration concerning the life philosophy in his Walden, which can give people direction of the way of living in which people should take in the future and how to re spect humans’ life and nature, So, the present paper will specifically analyze this point in Walden.

This thesis is divided into five chapters. Chapter One is the introduction. Chapter Two deals with the general knowledge of Thoreau and his Walden. Cha pter Three is mainly about Thoreau’s life philosophy from three aspects: returning to simplicity, eco-centric equality and pursuit of spiritual independence. Chapter Four is an analysis of the legacy of Walden. The last chapter is the conclusion of the thesis.

Chapter One Henry David Thoreau and Walden

1.1 Thoreau’s Life Experience

Henry Davie Thoreau was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on July 12, 1817, in what he thought “the most estimable place in the world, and in the very nick of ti me, too.”Harding, 1982:3 Concord, some twenty miles northwest of Boston, is located on the plains surrounding the juncture of the Assayed and Sudbury Rivers which forms the Concord Rivers, one of the principal tributaries of the Merrimack. In 1817, it was a quite little town of two thousand, devoted chiefly to agriculture. The town’s citizens knew neither great wealth nor extreme poverty and the town was essentially a democracy, no man felt the need of kneeling to his neighbors.

Thoreau grew up very close with his older brother, John, Jr., who first show an interest in ornithology and Thoreau later learned much of his bird from John’s notebooks. They opened a private school with the principle of “learning by doing” and devoted a considerable part of its program to field trips, which proved successful. Because of John’s poor health, the school was brought to an abrupt close on April 1, 1841.the worst thing is that John died because of lockjaw in his brother’s arms in January 1842. Soon after John’s death, Thoreau returned to live with Emerson, and eventually he resumed his normal pattern of life, Thoreau lived there for more than two years. He tutored Emerson’s children, kept Emerson’s garden and also contributed to The Dial, an important magazine. Inspired by Emerson, he began to write his journal. In 1845, he moved to a cabin built by him on the shore of Walden Pound and stayed there for

more than two years. He lived a very simple life in it and enjoyed the greatest happiness in spirit. He devoted most of his time to reading, writing and he kept a detailed journal of his observations of nature, activities and thoughts. Yet he was quite enjoying that life and solitude. And there, he finished his most famous book Walden or Life in the Woods, which was commonly regarded as his masterpiece.

Thoreau loved nature very much. He enjoyed walking in the woods and studied various birds, animals, trees and flowers. He collected various interesting things in nature, which was sent to his mother and young sister Sophia. In his late life, he made several journeys to Maine Woods and Cape Cod. He admired Indian and liked oriental philosophy very much. He died of tuberculosis in 1862, at the age of 44, after his death, he and his book got a profound understanding and widely attention. He left ten books, numerous essays and a huge journal, published later in 20 volumes.

1. 2 A Brief Introduction to Walden

Walden, written by Henry David Thoreau, was published in 1854, it details Thoreau’s sojourn in a cabin beside Walden Poun d where he lived for more than two years, but Walden was written so that the stay appears to be a year, with expressed seasonal divisions. Walden consists of 18 chapters.

Chapter one is an attack on the American lifestyle along with

Thoreau’s alternati ve solution. He does this, he says, in order to illustrate the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle and he easily supplies the four necessities of life food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. In Chapter two and three, Thoreau describes his cabin’s locat ion and discusses books and what he felt that people should be reading. In Chapter four, Thoreau continued his description of his life in the wood and describes the sounds of nature around his home and describes his solitude in the woods and ends with his recipe for good health in Chapter five. In Chapter six and seven, Thoreau writes about the visitors to his cabin and explains his work in the bean-field in detail. In Chapter eight, Thoreau visits the small town of Concord every day or two to hear the news, which he finds “as refreshing in its way as the rustle of the leaves.” In Chapter nine, in autumn, Thoreau rambles about the countryside and writes down his observations about the geography of Walden Pond.

Thoreau urges Field to live a simple but independent and fulfilling life in the woods, thereby freeing himself of employers and creditors in Chapter ten and discusses whether hunting wild animals and eating meat is good in Chapter eleven. In Chapter twelve, Thoreau provides a short spoof of his and his neighbors’ behavior and then describes some animals living around the Pound. In Chapter thirteen, after picking November berries in the woods, Thoreau bestirs himself to add a chimney and plaster the walls of his hut in order to stave off the cold of the

oncoming winter. In Chapter fourteen, Thoreau relates the stories of people who formerly lived in the vicinity of Walden Pond. Chapter fifteen is about Thoreau’s amusement in watching wildlife during the winter. In Chapter sixteen, Thoreau describes the winter fish men, his survey of the pound and the harvest of ice on the pound. In Chapter seventeen, Thoreau describes spring coming to Walden Pound with details suggestive of recreation and summarizes his most important message to his readers in the last chapter The book is not a traditional autobiography, but partly declaration of independence, partly social experiment, partly voyage of spiritual discovery and manual for self-reliance. Much of the book is devoted to stirring up awareness of how one’s l ife is lived, materially and otherwise, and how one might choose to live it more deliberately

Chapter Two Thoreau's Views of Life

2.1 Returning to Simplicity

To live a simple life is the central point of Walden. It is an ideal way of living that Thoreau appreciated. One of his purposes to enter the woods was to conduct an experiment on such a life. James C. McKusick said, “as a parable of human experience, it Walden offers an extended med itation on the value of a simple lifestyle.” McKusick, 2000:142 Thoreau wrote, “if then, we would indeed restore mankind by truly Indian, botanic, magnetic, or natural means, let us first be as simple and well as nature ourselves, dispel the clouds which hang over our brows, and take up a little life into our pores. Do not stay to be an overseer of the poor, but endeavor to become one of the worthies of the world” Sayre, 1985:384. The simplicity that Thoreau advocated has two aspects. On one hand, it urges people to get rid of their greedy requirement for materials. On the other hand, it encourages people to pursuit rich spiritual enjoyment. This idea permeates the whole book.

Simplicity is the first rule that Thoreau emphasizes most because

he believes that it is an effective remedy to get oneself out of both material and spiritual fetter, thus which provides opportunity for self-cultivation. Strongly denounced the materialism and complacency of his compatriots and luxurious life, Thoreau is known for his call to simplify life. His stay at Walden is in itself an experiment of a simplified lifestyle. As a matter of fact, what Thoreau preaches is not just a way of living, but an attitude man should adopt towards nature and human’s life.

We can see his expression of simplicity in the opening chapter“Economy” explicitly. In “Economy,” Thoreau reveals to us the world full of limitless snatching and consuming that, in fact, traps humans in endless labor and deprive them of authentic living. The misfortunes o f humans in Concord is “to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle, and farming tools; for these are easily acquired than got rid of” Cramer, 2004: 3. Such “inheritance encumbrances” force the farmers to forge “their own golden or silver fetters” Crame r, 2004: 16. During his stay at Walden pound, his food is simple and plain. “Instead of three meals a day, if it be necessary eat but one; instead of hundred dishes, five; and reduce other things in proportion” Cramer, 2004: 89. His “necessaries of life” is quite similar to the term “vital needs” put forward by Naess in Deep Ecology, which mainly refers to the simple physical needs. Naess 2002 argues that humans have no right to exploit

the earth for their need of excessive consumption when vital needs have already been satisfied, and he expressed his idea in one of his books, and the name is: Life’s Philosophy Reason and Feeling in a Deeper World. Thoreau arrives at a conclusion through his own experience that human may use as simple as the animals, and yet retain health and strength. He voluntarily chooses to live a simple life of least wants, most of which are produced by his own, and he believes that his experiment concerning food simplicity is successful and he mocks at the stupidity of others who makes life more complicated by demanding more delicate food Thoreau writes:

One farmer says to me, “You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make bones with;” and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying his system with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle Cramer, 2004: 9.

With regard to shelter, Thoreau contends that “a larg e box by the railroad, six feet long by three wide” will do for the purpose of getting sheltered, which is by no means “a despicable alternative”Cramer, 2004: 8. He deplores that his townsmen endeavors to build beautiful and luxurious houses to live originally, but to enslave

themselves virtually What Thoreau tries to reveal is that we are often “imprisoned rather than “housed” in humans own houses. In contrast, Thoreau prefers the Indians way of setting up shelter. In America, the native Indians set up wigwams just before sunset because it is cheaper and offers more opportunity to keep contact with nature and over-soul. Naturally, “Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity” is Thoreau’s choice of life motto. We can not say that Thoreau’s idea of simplicity is t he best or perfect, but at least it gets people to know that life can be simple, and it is simple in itself, consequently, it would not hard for people to realize that everybody should not chase “complexity” blindly with ignorance of “simplicity.”

2.2 Eco-centric Equality

The notion of eco-centric Equality is that all things in the ecosphere have an equal right to self-realization. This basic notion advocates that all organisms and entities in the ecosphere, as part of the interrelated whole, are equal in intrinsic worth. His concept on bio-centric equality is contrary to western traditional philosophy of anthropocentrism, which holds that human should be fundamentally separate from the rest of nature and be superior to the rest of creation. Thoreau believes that as an equal member in nature, human can never dominate over nature and should never expect to tame nature for economic use, human will never succeed ultimately in conquering. Controlling or remarking nature

according to humans’ limitless desires.

In Walden, he conveys his dissatisfaction for humans making interruption and destruction to nature. He expresses his affection and intimacy towards trees by writing that “Every little pine need le expanded and swelled with sympathy and befriended me. I was so distinctly made aware of the presence of something kindred to me , even in scenes which we are accustomed to call wild and dreary, and also that the nearest of food to me and humanist was not a person nor a villager, that I thought no place could ever be strange me again” Cramer, 2004: 128. His pure love for woods permeates in Walden. After he left Walden, a large number of trees like pine, spruce and cedar were deforested by people for money. The destructed woods concerned him so much that he could not help questioning “How can you expect the birds to sing when their groves are cut down”? Cramer, 2004: 86 Th