When Walden was published during the nineteenth century, the reactions of people were exceedingly different than they are of modern society. These reactions were towards every aspect of Thoreau and altered with every change in time. The foremost reactions toward Henry David Thoreau occurred when he went to live on his own at Walden Pond. As strange as it may seem, some critics think that Thoreau’s choice to live at Walden Pond was simply because he was a hermit. However, his sheltered life was the result of his brother’s death, which promoted Henry to go to Walden Pond (Life 1). Henry explains in Walden, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived” (Life 1). As anyone may obviously see, Thoreau did not choose a life on the pond simply because he was a hermit. He left his nearby town of Concord for the life at......
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