Quote 1
The
mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.
This sentence, which appears in the
first chapter, “Economy,” is perhaps the most famous quotation from Walden.
It sums up the prophetic side of Thoreau that many people forget
about; he was not just an experimenter living in isolation on Walden
Pond, but also a deeply social and morally inspired writer with
an ardent message for the masses. His use of the word “desperation”
instead of a milder reference to discontentment or unhappiness shows
the grimness of his vision of the mainstream American lifestyle.
He believes that the monomaniacal pursuit of success and wealth
has paradoxically cheapened the lives of those engaged in it, making
them unable to appreciate the simpler pleasures enumerated in Walden. But
the unpleasantness of American life, according to Thoreau, is more than
simply financial or economic, despite the title of his first chapter.
“Desperation” is also a word with deep religious connotations, the
“lack of hope” that, according to Dante (one of Thoreau’s favorite
writers), was inscribed on the gates at hell’s entrance. The
Pilgrim’s Progress, John Bunyan’s Protestant spiritual
classic and a bestseller in the New England of Thoreau’s day, features
a hero who passes through a bleak lowland called the Slough of Despair
on his way to meet God. By asserting that most humans have gotten
stuck in despair, Thoreau is implying that they are unable to continue
farther on their pilgrimage toward true redemption.
