For my essay, I would like to write about Thoreau's idea of simplicity. He claims that, "An honest man has hardly need to count more than his ten fingers, or in extreme cases he may add his ten toes, and lump the rest." To start out, I want to explain this idea by connecting it with Thoreau's lifestyle. He reduced his life "to its lowest terms" while living in the woods in a half-built cabin. Then, I want to contest that simplifying your life to the level Thoreau suggests isn't viable in today's society. Today, you can't just forget everything and go live in the woods keeping, "your accounts on your thumb-nail." I want to justify that society is inherently complex because of its structure and expectations.
Do you have any suggestions? Why do you agree or disagree?
I agree. Our world as it is in this day and age is ever expanding and growing and changing. If you were to do what Thoreau did and remove yourself from this idea of more is necessary and bigger is better you will simply be left behind. You may live the life you want but it will not be the fullest it can. The world now expects those who live in it to either change with the world or die. I think this is a good topic. You could mention the quote about a man only being in proportion to the things he can let alone. Also talk about how materialistic our lives have become. About how the companies that mass produce things make them so that they only have a certain life expectancy to them that way we as the consumer will have to re-purchase what we have after a certain amount of time; that's how they increase they're profit gain. I think that is enough from me for now lol.
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