As a follower of transcendentalism, Thoreau projected individualism in his literary works, Walden and "Civil Disobedience." Thoreau had a deep emphasis on nature, as displayed in his works, as well as his freedom and following conscience. .
Walden Pond was one of Thoreau's favorite spots in Concord, Massachusetts. Walden Pond is a symbol for self-exploration; it must answer human nature depth for depth. Even as a very young child, he could stand alone among the trees at Walden Pond and not feel lonely. The people around his small town referred to Thoreau as "nature's own child" (Reef 21). Thoreau spent more time outdoors than in the small cabin he built by Walden Pond. Thoreau took long walks in the woods and fields around his town in Concord, Massachusetts. .
While he was at Walden, Thoreau was alone quite often, but he was rarely lonely. Walden is a book about Thoreau's experiences while living in the woods beside Walden Pond. Walden is not a long book, but it is filled with wonderful sentences that grab at your mind and stay in your ear (Burleigh 20). This book has helped many people think about and change their lives. Thoreau summed up his reasoning for living by Walden Pond by saying, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essentials 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" (Daugherty 15).
Thoreau felt peaceful and at one with nature. He felt deeply about nature; he felt it reached right into your feelings. Yet thoughts (Ring 5). Thoreau felt that "Natural objects and phenomena are the original symbols or types which express our thoughts and feelings, and yet American scholars, having little or no root in the soil, commonly strive with all their might to confide themselves to the imported symbols alone. All the true growth and experience, the living speech, they would fain reject as "Americanisms" " (Paul 53).