Thursday, October 9, 2008

pg. 172

Text: The water is so transparent that the bottom can easily be discerned at the depth of twenty-five or thirty feet. Paddling over it you may see may feet beneath the surface the schools of perch and shiners, perhaps only an inch long.

I think that Thoreau sees this pond as the purity of what nature represents compared to society which is compared to as a muddy river earlier on. The muddy river represents society and how the people in it aren't seeing the truth and are stuck thinking that the way people are measured in life is by what there personal possessions are and that their mind are confused and mirky like the muddy river. However Walden pond is crystal clear and nothing is keeping people from not seeing that life is measured by how much knowledge one possesses and that one doesn't need all the comforts of nice thing but rather the bare necessities. Thoreau continues to express how clear this pond is continuing the idea that it represents how nature is uncorrupted.

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