“Society is commonly too cheap. We meet at very short intervals, not having had time to acquire any new value for each other. We meet at meals three times a day, and give each other a new taste of that old musty cheese that we are. We have had to agree on a certain set of rules, called etiquette and politeness, to make this frequent meeting tolerable and that we need not come to open war. We meet at the post-office, and at the sociable, and about the fireside every night; we live thick and are in each other's way, and stumble over one another, and I think that we thus lose some respect for one another.”
Henry David Thoreau, Walden or Life in the Woods
Thoreau claims that society is
too cheap, going through the same routine every day, the same interactions and
actions amongst each other, like old musty cheese, and that thus, as humans, we
lose respect for each other through the way we "live thick and are in each
other's way." Thoreau’s brilliant use of a resilient tone, and a choice of
creative and precise diction and syntax, work in union to strengthen his claim
on the nature of the human being.
Thoreau is displeased with the nature of human beings. His tone shows
frustration and annoyance towards society as he makes the claim that people are
always in each other’s ways, living thick lives and going about unnecessary
interactions He suggests indirectly that it would be better if people
interacted less often, so that the time spent alone would actually give people
the chance to have something important to communicate, rather than pretending
society is more enjoyable than it actually is through their same, redundant
interactions. He calls society too “cheap,” and compares a human being as
“musty old cheese,” showing almost a sense of disgust towards this aspect of
human nature. Although his dominant tone is calm, it is more complex, as he
uses different interchanging tones along with the dominant one. Because of his
lack of exclamation, Thoreau’s tone is nonchalant, a bit disappointed because
of his disgust and annoyance with human nature, and a bit didactic because of
the suggestion he indirectly makes by shunning and criticizing human nature, to
lessen interactions between each other.
Thoreau’s precise and direct language, yet complex syntax and indirect
instruction draw in the reader and strengthen his argument about human
interactions and human nature. Thoreau uses words and phrases like “cheap,”
“musty old cheese,” “tolerable,” and “lose respect,” to emphasize his annoyance
and displeasure towards people’s actions. His diction is precise, and not
complex at all, yet it sets up a sentence and idea structure that is a little
more complex, and has an indirect message towards the reader. His brilliant and
flawless syntax and precise diction all work to make his argument, in which he
purposely makes an indirect suggestion to the reader, where he gives the advice
to interact less, so that people have more important things to communicate
after being alone, rather than the same “musty old cheese” that they
redundantly do. By doing this purposely,
Thoreau achieves the objective of making the reader thing more in depth about
his argument and his claim, and to dig deeper into his argument and take out
the piece of counsel ad recommendation he wants them to acquire.
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