Assignment 5: Thoreau sees bravery, intelligence and spiritual depth in the instinctual behavior of animals. Can it be that some of the character traits we most admire in other persons are also matters of instinct, as with the animals in this passage? If character is matter of insouciant instinct, can we condemn those who don’t have it? Cf. Menand, “We think that sucking it up, mastering our fears, is a sign of character. But do we think that people who are naturally fearless lack character? We usually think the opposite. Yet those people are just born lucky.”

How did we turn into the human beings we are? Sometimes some certain events, problems, or specific decisions bring something out of us. In that very moment the instinctual behavior take part in our minds and bodies and then we show character. 

      

Character plays an important role in our lives. Through every experience we made, it helps us to grow into the human beings and persons we are right now. It indicates to others what you as a person stand for and who you are.  It is the personality and nature of your own self. Character develops itself by time and this is the way it is built. 

According to Merriam-Webster character is “the way someone thinks, feels, behaves: someone’s personality and a set of qualities that are shared by many people in a group, country, etc.”            

Of course, character can also be influenced by outward factors, such as parents. For instance, they give good advices, or they try to put you in the right path, but, the final and determined forming of your character lies in your own hands. Therefore, character is not only the behavior of a human being, but also his ethical reactions to specific situations, and the decision he makes, based and depending on his social background.

In “Walden; or Life in the Woods” David Henry Thoreau focuses his thoughts on the various animal lives which he observes at Walden Pond. There he was able to perceive natural phenomena in its very little detail. With this observation he discovers the interaction between animal nature, and spirituality. Moreover, he mentions the instinct which he does not see negative at all. In the partridge that follow their mother´s signal, with no fear, he sees bravery.  “So perfect is this instinct […]. The remarkably adult yet innocent eyes is very much memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. […] The traveller does not often see this limpid well” (Thoreau 147). He wonders about the intelligence, bravery and spiritual depth which he sees in those animal lives, which, for him, defines also the characteristics of instinctive behavior.

“We think that sucking it up, mastering our fears, is a sign of character. But do we think that people who are naturally fearless lack character? We usually think the opposite. Yet those people are just born lucky.” (Cf. Menand). Being a good person and having a good character is the goal every human being wants to achieve. Good character is popular. Developing and improving your character in time is seen very positive. But what does it mean to have less character or more character than others? Why is character so important to others?                        

 If character is a matter of insouciant instinct we can surely not condemn those who do not have it. The cooperation of instinctual behavior and character makes you who you are. In our communication instinct plays a huge role, because the way we communicate to each other is more a response of our instinctual behavior. That is why I am certain that we act instinctive in some certain events. We need to act like this to achieve what we really want and only this can lead us to the right way. But not every human being is “lucky” to show this exact instinct and those human beings we have to condemn.