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13 - Thoreau and reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 May 2006

Joel Myerson
Affiliation:
University of South Carolina
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Summary

Thoreau notes in Walden that “moral reform is the effort to throw off sleep ” (W 90) and there can be no doubt that he himself was deeply involved in that effort throughout his lifetime. Indeed, a concern with reform of all types - personal, social, religious, and so on -permeates his published works, and a comprehensive discussion of the topic would necessarily touch upon all of them. However, this chapter will concentrate primarily on the writings contained in Reform Papers, which is based upon, but also adds to, an earlier collection, A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers (1866). All my page references are to the Reform Papers text.

Over the years scholars have argued about the nature and extent of Thoreau’s commitment to enterprises for social reform. Some have held that “his first concern was not society; it was man himself, ” and that because of his nearly exclusive emphasis upon self-reform he tended to ignore the larger, collective social dimension.' Others have concluded that "Thoreau was no social reformer," or that, more broadly, "the troubles of mankind caused him no disturbance," or that, if occasionally the press of public events would draw him forth to "deliver jeremiads on the evil of his times," he would soon "draw back and do nothing more, insisting that he had other more important affairs to attend to."

On the other side, some critics have seen him as something of a curmudgeon who was entirely too concerned with the moral rectitude of his neighbors and too willing to offer criticism of them. One such critic insists that Thoreau "believed in inspiration from on high, in his own inspiration, and in the inspiration of whoever agreed with him… . Yet there is a suppressed premise in the argument - the premise that this particular human being, Henry David Thoreau, is right, and that anyone who disagrees with him is ipso facto wrong."

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Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 1995

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  • Thoreau and reform
  • Edited by Joel Myerson, University of South Carolina
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521440378.014
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  • Thoreau and reform
  • Edited by Joel Myerson, University of South Carolina
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521440378.014
Available formats
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Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Thoreau and reform
  • Edited by Joel Myerson, University of South Carolina
  • Book: The Cambridge Companion to Henry David Thoreau
  • Online publication: 28 May 2006
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CCOL0521440378.014
Available formats
×