Our world today no longer lives in a world of simplicity due to our advanced mechanization.. People no longer focus on self-sufficiency, and focus on living the life of luxury. People have grown in a world where they seek competition with each other,rather than helping their neighbor out. In “Where I lived and what I lived for” Thoreau addresses his values of living a life of simplicity by living a life alone in the woods, free from everyone else. By advocating the life Thoreau argues, our world would promote a life full of leisure and free from obligations. No rush, no competition,no materialism, just a free flowing life.
Before technology boomed in the 1920’s, people communicated simply by talking to each other. There was no competition to have the best life. Now, it seems as if people rush into buying the best of the best to promote an image of superiority. Thoreau's rhetorical question, “why should we live with such hurry and waste of life?” indicates that people are not taking the time to acknowledge the essence of life and rushing into a life of luxury.
On the other hand, individuals who reject Thoreau’s ideal of simplicity, argue that mechanization is what will help us simplify our lives. Machinery has helped by doing the job for us. So because machinery does the job, people have nothing to worry about, which leads to a free life. But little do they know that because people depend too much on the machinery and become distracted from each other. Thoreau states “let us spend one day as deliberately as Nature”, after he analyzed a life of leisure. People do not necessary need the machinery, they are capable of doing the job themselves. Machinery holds back knowledge, people need to nourish.
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