Summary Of Thoreau's Walden

The final paragraph of chapter 2 in Thoreau’s Walden allows one to understand Thoreau’s view on time compared to life as well as the importance he places on intellect. He begins by saying “time is but the stream I go a-fishing in.” (10). Time is how he views his life meanwhile his fishing in it is relevant to the current time. The stream is representative of how life continues to go on. However, he then says “…I see the sandy bottom and detect how shallow it is.” (10). He realizes that life, although like a stream appears to be deep and long, it is instead short and continuous while on earth. Thoreau thinks of life as moments that pass under an eternity that stays put meaning that while one’s life on earth has moments then eventually ends, it is just
As well-known and recognized as Thoreau is today, he says that “I have always been regretting that I was not as wise as the day I was born.” (10). It appears backwards that he is saying he had more wisdom when he came out of the womb then he does after all his years of living and learning. When you are born and young, you have qualities you are forced to lose as you grow such as the ability to revel and feel in emotions without qualifying them as well as complete freedom in decision making where we only trust ourselves. You are born with primitive wisdom. You are born to simply live and as you grow, you sacrifice that in exchange for ‘wisdom’ acquired through schooling, relationships, etc which to Thoreau are considered a step down. Thoreau then states that “The intellect is a cleaver” (10), where he compares a butcher’s utensil to the mind, a seemingly unrelated comparison. He says that intellect like a cleaver “discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things” (10). Like a cleaver is designed to go through bone, the mind is designed to plunge into the densest of topics and we are born knowing all we need to in order to