谋生还是生活NEW.docx

四川大学锦江学院毕业论文 谋生还是生活 -- 梭罗人生观在《瓦尔登湖》中的体现

毕业论文（设计）

题 目 To Make a Living Or To Live a Life－ a Study of Thoreau’s Life Value As Presented in Walden
学 院 外国语 　
专 业 英语 年级 2012级
学生姓名 徐莉 　
学 号 120310318
指导教师 王荣生 　

2016年 5 月

谋生还是生活 -- 梭罗人生观在《瓦尔登湖》中的体现
英语专业
学生: 徐莉 指导教师: 王荣生
摘要：亨利大卫梭罗是美国超验主义文学和生态主义文学的先驱。他的一生有很多传世名作，对世界文学产生了巨大的影响。其中，《瓦尔登湖》便被视为近代文学史上的散文巨作，记录了他在瓦尔登湖边的生活以及对人生的感悟。字里行间无不传递着他的人生哲思。十九世纪的美国，在经济高速发展和全国范围内的城市化、工业化和商业化影响下，人们对金钱的追求和极度的物质主义急速膨胀。然而有发展必定伴随着牺牲，尤其是人类对大自然的无休止索取让自然受到了巨大的污染和破坏同时科学技术的发展也让人们的生活也离自然越来越远。在这样的背景下，超验主义文学和生态主义文学氤氲而生，梭罗开始寻找一个物质财富和精神财富并存的伊甸园。在他的观念中人生的意义不只是简单的谋生而是要真正的活着，要寻找生命的真谛和更高的精神世界，要汲取人生的精髓过最本真的生活。梭罗曾多次在《瓦尔登湖》中颂扬人与自然和谐共处的生活，提倡个人的自立自强和个人提升与完美。他极力呼唤他的读者们过简单的生活不要沉溺于物质的浮华中去。他的超验主义和生态主义哲思同样也是发人深省的。通过对书本的解读，他人的观点和自己的分析，这篇论文着重于分析梭罗在《瓦尔登湖》中的人生观。
关键词：梭罗；人生观；瓦尔登湖；谋生；生活

ABSTRACT
Henry David Thoreau is a pioneer of American Transcendental literature and modern environmentalist literature. His works have a far-reaching influence on world literature. Walden, one of his remarkable books, is regard as a world masterpiece, in which the description of Thoreau’s daily life is combined with the expression of his thoughts about life. Thoreau’s thinking or life value is conveyed between the lines in Walden. With the rapid development of American urbanization, industrialization and commercialization in the early 19th century, Americans had high material aspirations and a strong desire to accumulate wealth. And the negative effect of human activity on the natural environment grew worse. Against that social background, Thoreau looked for the Eden of Garden in which man can enjoy an abundant life both materially and spiritually. In Thoreau’s view, the significance of life lies not just in making a living, but largely in living deep and sucking out all the marrow of life and aspiring to a higher spiritual world.
In Walden the author eulogizes a harmonious relationship between man and nature, and advocates individualism, self-reliance, and frugality. The author tries to reduce the material demand as much as possible so as to obtain ample spiritual wealth and freedom in terms of reading, thinking, observing, getting close to nature and self-improving. All this is achieved though a simple life. His Transcendental philosophy and Ecologist idea are also an important part of his life philosophy or life value.
This thesis attempts to analyze the author’s life value as presented in Walden. The analysis is done in several aspects and centered around the core of Thoreau’s life philosophy—to live a life.
Key Words: Thoreau; life value; Walden; make a living; live a life

Contents
Introduction……………………………………….....................................1
Part One background………......................................2
1.1 The Social Background in Thoreau’s Time Time………............……....2
1.2 The Literary Background in Thoreau’s Time..........................................4
Part Two Thoreau’s Life Value Reflected in Walden ..............................5
2.1 Rejecting the Popular Value of “ Making a living ” ................................5
2.2 To Live a Life……………………............................................................6
2.2.1 The Transcendental Philosophy........................................................................6
2.2.2 The Romantic Ecological Philosophy..............................................................7
2.2.3 To Live a Simple Life......................................................................................8
2.2.4 To Live a Free Life......................................................................9
2.2.5 To learn to Think............................................................................................10
2.2.6 Self- development and Self-perfection...........................................................11
Conclusion………………………………………………………...................12
Notes………………………………………………………………......................................14
Bibliography……………………………………………………......................................15
Acknowledgements…………………………….……............…………......................16

To Make a Living Or To Live a Life
－ a Study of Thoreau’s Life Value As Presented in Walden

Introduction
A giant in the realm of the 19th century American literature, Henry David Thoreau is a pioneer of American transcendental literature and modern environmentalist literature. America underwent rapid industrialization and urbanization and a wide spread of materialism in Thoreau’s time. People in Thoreau’s time took it for granted that human beings could conquer nature, dominate nature and even take from nature endlessly. Thoreau met Ralph Waldo Emerson①, who had a greatly influence on him in his early life. He patronized Thoreau at times and also gave ideas and suggestions to the young man. Emerson made an undeniable contribution to Thoreau’s literary achievement, as it were. Thoreau was a lover and philosopher of nature all his life. In his early years he followed transcendentalism② in which the core value is goodness inherent in both people and nature. It emphasizes spiritual quest and self-development and self-perfection. What’s more, it advocates return to nature. In order to practice his transcendental philosophy, Thoreau built a hut by himself and lived there for two years by cultivating vegetables or picking wild fruits. During the two years, Thoreau developed a unique and complicated ecological thought under the influence of romanticism, transcendentalism and Chinese natural philosophy. This thought finds its full expression in Walden Thoreau’s masterpiece.
Walden is a great transcendental work based on Thoreau’s two-year experiment at Walden, and it embodies his life value and wisdom. No one showed any interest in his works until his death. Admittedly, Walden is Thoreau’s most significant and representative work, and established him as a great writer of American literature. Walden consists of 18 chapters, condensing Thoreau’s two years into a single calendar year and recording his observation of nature, his daily life and his thoughts about nature and mankind. The work is a social experiment, partly a voyage of spiritual discovery, and a personal declaration of independence and self-reliance In the chapter “Where I Lived, and What I Lived For,” Thoreau states his purpose of going to Walden: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived. I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary.”(2011,93) The author wants to know what kind of life is meaningful and what kind of life is a real life. He exhorts his readers to simplify, and to return to nature so as to obtain the freedom of life with the highest spiritual purpose. Through his practice Thoreau wants to confirm that there is possibility for mankind to live with nature in a harmonious way . He also expresses his confidence that one's dream can be realized, and that his experiment at Walden successfully demonstrates this.
Walden is considered to be a masterpiece of prose, in which the description of Thoreau’s daily life is combined with the expression of his thoughts about life. Thoreau’s thinking or life value is conveyed between the lines in Walden. In the 19th century, the fast development of American industry and commerce was accompanied by money worship and materialism, which dominated the society in which Thoreau lived. Thoreau began to think about a new lifestyle against the then social climate. So in Walden the author eulogizes a harmonious life between human and nature, and advocates individualism, self-reliance, and frugality. The author tries to reduce the material demand as much as possible so as to obtain ample spiritual wealth and freedom in terms of reading, thinking, observing, getting close to nature and self-improving. All this is achieved though a simple life. This paper focuses on the life value as reflected in Walden. So this introduction is followed by a brief account of the social and literary background in Section Two, and the key parts of Thoreau’s life philosophy are discussed in Section Three. The paper concludes with the main ideas and my personal views.
Part One Background
1.1 The Social Background in Thoreau’s Time
With the rapid development of American urbanization, industrialization and commercialization, in the early 19th century, Americans had high material aspirations and a strong desire to accumulate wealth. That kind of social ethos, which regarded the build-up of possessions as life’s chief purpose, stimulated man’s pursuit of wealth and fortune. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the proportion of population urbanization in the United States had increased sharply in the 19th century. The development of the economy and society covered multiple aspects including infrastructures, raw material, energy, transportation and so on. As a result, USA had laid the foundation for establishing a powerful economy in the world by the early 19th century. There was a sharp increase in the American urban population during the 19th century, which proved, in some aspect, the rapid economic development at Thoreau’s time.
1790 1810 1830 1850 1870 1890 1910
Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Selected Historical Decennial Census Population and Housing Counts, the Proportion of Urban (Net.1)
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On the other hand, however the crazy, greedy, self-centered man ruined natural resources, he himself fell slave to modern science and technology. In Thoreau’s opinion, most Americans at that time were always too busy to enjoy life, getting far away from nature and lacking spiritual pursuit. Thoreau rejects a life of business at the very beginning of his essay Life Without Principle:
Let us consider the way in which we spend our lives. This world is a place of business. What an infinite bustle! I am awaked almost every night by the panting of the locomotive. It interrupts my dreams. There is no sabbath. It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work. I cannot easily buy a blank-book to write thoughts in; they are commonly ruled for dollars and cents.(1979,1)
Man lives a deadening life in which people waste their time in trivial things. The whole society was made over material things, empty of spiritual purpose. Instead, Thoreau’s life value and philosophy diametrically didn't mash with the social climate at that time. Particularly, to Thoreau, man should seek spiritual satisfaction instead of wealth and luxury when his basic material needs are satisfied. Reacting to the growing materialism, Thoreau called on people to love and protect nature, to return to nature and to reconstruct a harmonious man-and-nature relationship. He believed it was time to get away from that commercializing society and to seek a meaningful life.
1.2 The Literary Background in Thoreau’s Time
As far as we know, literature is closely related to social reality. In another word, the literature of a specific period is closely associated with the society of the time. Ecologism③ made a big impact on the American literature of the 19th century and gave rise to ecological literature. Particularly, Thoreau’s idea on ecologism pioneered ecological literature in the early 19th－century American literature, even the world literature. Besides, the formation and development of American romanticism was much influenced by the English romantic movement, and also had its own characteristics reflecting the native American culture and the American spirit. Another important theory in that time was Transcendentalism. It was a philosophical movement that developed in the eastern region of the United States between the late 1820s and 1830s . The movement was a reaction to or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality. The transcendentalists desired to ground their religion and philosophy on the transcendental principles: the principles not based on physical experience, but deriving from the inner spiritual or mental essence of man. Emerson is most noted for leading the Transcendental movement of the mid-19th century, and the Transcendental movement may be partially described as a slight American outgrowth of English Romanticism. Thoreau conveys such romantic ideas in his work Walden as return to nature, the perception of nature, a harmonious life in nature and the quest for a higher,simpler,freer and spiritually richer life.
In his life, therefore, Thoreau wanted to awaken American zombies from their life of meaninglessness and drudgery. Thoreau repeatedly called upon his readers to build a spiritual edifice, to have a new way of life, and to find the peace of mind and a sense of belonging. There are some important reasons why Thoreau started a new life in Walden but left it two years later, “ I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one.”(2011,310) Thoreau stayed in his house at Walden Pond for more than two years, from July 1845 to September 1847. Walden, gives full expression to the author’s life philosophy or life value.
Part Two Thoreau’s Life Value Reflected in Walden
2.1 Rejecting the Popular Value of “Making a living”
With the the sharp increase in the commerce and industry of America in 19th century, materialism dominated the acquisitive society in which the craving for material things seemed never satisfied. In Life Without Principle, also considered as one of Thoreau’s great essays, he says, “a little money or fame would commonly buy them off from their present pursuit．It would be glorious to see mankind at leisure for once. It is nothing but work, work, work.”(1979) Days became monotonous and life turned dull. Money and work without play made men look like walking corpses. Life seemed meaningless and joyless. The pursuit for material comfort and money was starting to prevail over the pursuit for spiritual meaning. The prevailing social climate was against Thoreau’s thoughts. People wasted a lot of time in trifling things, and work became very boring. So Thoreau chose to work for one day and enjoy the other six days during a week.
Live a life, do not just make a living. The biggest part of Thoreau’s life value is to,in man’s short lifetime, accomplish something truly meaningf