Analysis of Wakefulness in Walden by Henry David Thoreau

According to Henry David Thoreau’s essay Walden, “To be awake is to be alive” (1855). However, Americans aren’t awake; they are stuck in the state of sleep because of how they choose to live their life. In order to achieve the wakefulness Thoreau identifies life with, Americans need to make changes to their lifestyle.

In Walden, Thoreau uses the metaphors “wakefulness” and “sleep” in order to call attention to the way Americans live. Thoreau sees “sleeping” as a metaphor for not living a life full of importance. The metaphor of “wakefulness” addresses the notion of indulging in life by other means than working and the materialistic world that consumes many Americans.

Thoreau says about Americans that “The millions are awake enough for physical labor” (1855). To be awake only for physical labor, essentially, is to not be awake at all. A person isn’t really alive if all they’re doing is laboring because physical labor doesn’t evoke emotional thought. Laboring is just doing a task that a person is told to do. There are directions to abide by when working; therefore, the laborer is sleeping because they aren’t thinking for their self.

In order to wake up, Americans need to “live deliberately” (1855) just as Thoreau. Living deliberately means to live free. If Americans freed their self from their love of materialism, they too would be awake because they wouldn’t be attracted to buying things or for example, riding the train everyday. Buying things and riding the train requires money. In order to acquire money, Americans need to work and working is what keeps Americans asleep.

Thoreau accomplishes wakefulness by moving to the woods (1855). By living in the woods he is free of the materialistic world. Instead of the materialistic world, Thoreau is one with nature. By being surrounded by nature, he is capable of actually living because he is doing something other than working. In fact, Thoreau says that he “got up early and bathed in the pond” (1854). He was living a “simplistic life” (1854) in the woods, which is time wisely spent. If he were working, he would be wasting time. He wouldn’t have time to focus on the beauties of life, such as the sounds of insects, the smell of his surroundings, and nature’s endearment. He would be busy working in order to buy things he doesn’t need. Working doesn’t allow you to take time to notice the beauty of a simplistic life.

Besides working, Americans are so involved with the business of other people. They attentively read the news, or ask about the news in order to distract them from the important thing in life-to be awake. Thoreau says that Americans “give directions to be waked every half hour” (1857) to hear what the news is. They constantly want to know what is happening in the world around them, even though the news doesn’t affect them. If a stranger dies somewhere it will not affect the American. They can still go on to do their daily tasks. Wanting to perpetually know the news is another form of staying asleep. Like laboring, the news distracts people from tuning in with nature. They aren’t living a simplistic life by reading about the troubles of another person’s life.

In order to be awake, Thoreau moved to the woods where life is simple. There are very few Americans capable of waking up from sleep because they’re too involved with laboring and are addicted to the news. To be awake, Americans need to follow Thoreau’s approach to wakefulness-live life deliberately. That way, they’ll have time to focus on the important things like thinking and nature.

Works Cited
Thoreau, Henry David. Walden. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. Ed. Nina Baym. 6th ed. Vol. B. New York: W.W. Nort