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In this piece of literature, the author casts a barbaric light on the west and the wild. He believes that people living in these regions become crude and without manners, even without responsibility for law and order. This was a common idea during the time the United States was being settled. People that lived out in the wild were believed to have lesser stature than the farmer or banker of the cities. Men of the wilderness were viewed as ruthless individuals; trapping their food and resorting to violence (hunting), not farming in order to survive.
As my opening paragraph pointed out, Thoreau did not hold the same view as his neighbors. He actually held the opposite. In his mind, people which lived in the congested pastoral settings held less class and merit than the wild men of the west. "As a true patriot I should be ashamed to think that Adam in paradise was more favorably situated on the whole than the backwoodsman in this country- (Thoreau). This quote reinforces Thoreau's dislike of pastoral life, and the idea that people that live on the frontier and in the wild are happy, normal human beings.
Thoreau believed that the wilderness was the true home for people. He did not expect his rigid neighbors to adopt his ideas, but pitied them for holding fast to their own beliefs. .
"I think that I cannot preserve my health and spirits unless I spend four hours a day at least "and it is commonly more than that "sauntering through the woods When sometimes I am reminded that the mechanics and shop-keepers stay in their shops not only all the forenoon, but all the afternoon too, sitting with crossed legs, so many of them "as if the legs were made to sit upon, and not to stand or walk upon "I think that they deserve some credit for not having all committed suicide long ago- (Thoreau).
In this excerpt Thoreau again reinforces his dislike for city life. He states his thirst for the wild, untouched and untainted by mankind.
