Ezra Pound vs. Thoreau

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Pound/Thoreau Ezra Pound is wrong in saying that Thoreau’s experiment at Walden Pond demonstrated his indifference to other humans. While Thoreau does provide some harsh criticism of society and humanity, he doesn’t go on his experiment simply to be able to do this; he could have said his criticisms without having ever had to go to Walden Pond. Thoreau goes to Walden not in indifference to humanity, but in an effort to help them. The entire experiment was to show how a person can reach inner fulfillment and how it isn’t necessary to have material objects for that. The world was going through a period of time where suddenly everything revolved around new industry and objects that could be bought and sold, and Thoreau could see this would bring about great change for both worse and better. Thoreau saw the usefulness of materials, as he used some of them during his experiment, even if they weren’t advanced ones, and didn’t cut himself off from humanity; he just released himself of the burden of wanting things he didn’t need. He let all these things he didn’t need go to show humanity it is possible to be content and even happy with your life without them. So while Ezra Pound said that Throreau’s experiment at Walden showed indifference for humanity, it was actually for the opposite reason, to show how he could help humanity to find real self-fulfillment. Thoreau used his experiment as evidence to show people how even when you don’t have the most money or the greatest job, you can always find some way to be happy; that if you just appreciate the little things and stop worrying about things that are needless to worry about you can reach that fulfillment people with all the material things in the world
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