Assignment One - On Chapter One "Economy"

There are two kinds of people in the world: the dalliers and the scrupulous. Modern life may provide the basis for us to develop an infinite amount of traits, but most of them come down to one question: do we take life seriously or not? Henry David Thoreau, 19^th century transcendentalist, and Marilynne Robinson, contemporary novelist and essayist, are united in this context: they take life very seriously. Thoreau preaches a minimalist lifestyle in line with nature that favors honest work, be it physical or intellectual, over any kind of leisure. Robinson is a Calvinist, which should make every comment on her work ethics redundant. Both authors have published works dealing with the importance of an earnest way of life, but their understanding of this phrase is quite different.

In his famous book Walden, which was first published in 1854, Thoreau recapitulates his time living in the woods of Massachusetts and emphasizes the importance of a serious, self-sufficient approach toward life. In the first chapter, he criticizes how students avoid labor in order to engage in leisure and states: “I mean that they [the students] should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly live it from beginning to end.” (Thoreau 49). It it plain to see how Thoreau's argumentation is centered around the individual; he wants not only students, but people in general to rely on themselves instead of the support of their community. Marilynne Robinson, however, chooses another way to address life's seriousness in her 2011 essay Night Thoughts of A Baffled Humanist. She focuses on the advantages of modern western society, which according to her is the frame in which the individual can obtain assiduousness and sophistication. Subsequently, Robinson argues:

“Western society at its best(…)allows us to grant one another real safety, real autonomy, the means to think and act as judgment and conscience dictate.” (Robinson 5). In contrast to Thoreau, Robinson builds her argument around society rather than the individual. She explains that the virtues of an efficient community provide the foundation for an honest and scrupulous individual, and comes across with a point so far off Thoreau's way of thinking that he does not even mention it. Another sign for Thoreau's and Robinson's fundamentally diverging perceptions of that matter is as simple as it is obvious: their choice of words. When discussing certain behaviors, the former uses the singular (Thoreau 49), whereas the latter chooses the plural (Robinson 5). This observation, as tiny as it may seem, reinforces the impression that Thoreau sees a clear-cut distinction between the individual and other people. Robinson, on the other hand, considers each individual part of a superordinate collective.

Both writers share a belief in the seriousness of life and have elaborate opinions on how life should be lived, but those opinions differ remarkably. Thoreau, true to transcendentalism, puts the main focus on the individual, Robinson demonstrates a more modern, collective-oriented train of thought. Accordingly, both illustrate rather contradictory perspectives in the mentioned works.

Works cited:

Robinson, Marilynne. “Night Thoughts of a Baffled Humanist.” The Nation 8 Nov. 2011. The Nation. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

Thoreau, Henry David, and Jeffrey S Cramer. Walden. New Haven, Conn.; London: Yale University Press, 2004. Print.