"Olympus is but the outside of the earth everywhere." p.68
(Q) What?.. No really, what? Thoreau, up to this point in his book, has used many greek mythology allusions, but those were clear. This one is very different from the rest; it's more of a metaphor than an allusion. I know what he means when he says "Olympus", but what else is he trying to say?
"..the man who goes alone can start to-day; but he who travels with another must wait till that other is ready, and it may be a long time before they get off." p. 58
(R) Thoreau is the prime example of a loner. And while he does have a point in saying that most things are better done alone, he fails to factor in the emotional and psychological benefits of having company. His philosophy is one of efficiency, not happiness.
"We may not arrive at our port within a calculable period, but we would preserve the true course." p.57
(E) This is a way of saying no matter how long something takes, it will be accomplished. It is a true model for perserverance and shows that it's okay to take your time, or if time isn't in your hands, then it's okay as long as you end up achieving/reaching your goals.
"There is some of the same fitness in a man's building his own house that there is in a bird's building his own nest. Who knows but if men constructed their dwellings with their own hands, and provided food for themselves and families simply and honestly enough, the poetic faculty would be universally developed, as birds universally sing when they are so engaged? But alas! we do like cowbirds and cuckoos, which lay their eggs in nests which other birds have built, and cheer no traveller with their chattering and unmusical notes." p.36
(E) We, unlike those birds who's tones we admire, do not "build our own nests", which negates us from developing our own beautiful singing voices. Instead we do like the cowbirds and cuckoos, who's voices bring enjoyment to no one, and settle down in nests built by someone else.What do the birds who build their own nests learn that the rest of us who refuse to partake in this task don't?
"In this course which our ancestors took there was a show of prudence at least, as if their principle were to satisfy the more pressing wants first." p.31
(E) It seems as if though we used to be better at prioritizing in the times past. We knew the importance of some things over others and acted based upon logic instead of desire.
”Most men appear never to have considered what a house is, and are actually though needlessly poor all their lives because they think that they must have such a one as their neighbors have.”
(E) So basically, the only reason why some are poor is because they feel the need to have what others do, instead of only what they need. This isn't exactly envy, but it's still just as bad. Why harm your financial position in order to be like everyone else? That's like when people who don't have too much money buy expensive luxuries like iPhones, beats headphones, Jordans, Toms, and things like that with the little money they have instead if using it on something they actually need. Why? Because ”everyone else has them.”
” We may imagine a time when, in the infancy of the human race, some enterprising mortal crept into a hollow rock for shelter.” p.21
(E) He seems to be describing one of the first instances when man seeked out shelter, or maybe even man's natural instinct to look for a place to feel safe and protected. He emphasizes this by using the example of a primitive human, whom we can assume is very simple minded being the time that he was alive in, and even without modern education he still seeked out shelter for himself.
”As for a Shelter, I will not deny that this is now a necessary of life, though there are instances of men having done without it for long periods in colder weather.” p.20
(E) I think shelter, at least for humans, has always been necessary and essential to our survival. So the type of shelter Thoreau must be talking about is the excessive, luxurious one that includes way more than what is necessary in order for us to survive. According to him, all we need from a shelter is warmth and protection from the outside world's conditions while we rest so anything more than that is unnecessary.
This was an interesting sonnet. Although protest or call-to-action poetry has been done before this one seems to have a defining characteristic that sets it apart from the rest. What i think that may be is the author's blunt writing, telling his audience to fight even when death is imminent instead of implying it through the use of literary devices or other things of the sort. There's no big allusion, there's no connection made between this work and another, it just simply states that in order to die a noble death one must give it his all even when the odds are against his favor.
"The head monkey at Paris puts on a traveller's cap, and all the monkeys in America do the same." p.19
(R) Monkey see, monkey do. It's so sad knowing that our kind has advanced so much and yet so little in the time between now and when this quote was written. You see people outside wearing toms, skinny jeans, "swag" shirts, and Obey snapbacks, that still claim to be original individuals, but those that can't afford all that stuff, that have to put their own outfits together out of outgrown pieces of cloth are more preoccupied with less material things instead of feeling the need to prove to everyone else that they are an original individual by doing the exact same thing the next person does. I really dislike hypocrisy.
"Perhaps we should never procure a new suit, however ragged or dirty the old, until we have so conducted, so enterprised or sailed in some way, that we feel like new men in the old, and that to retain it would be like keeping new wine in old bottles." p.18
(E) I feel like part of what Thoreau is trying to say is that no matter what you do on the outside, you will still be the same person on the inside, so there's no point in trying to change appearances until and inner change itself has been achieved. Also, if I may base myself on his previous statements that led up to that quote, he believes that your outer appearance should reflect your inner self. I say this because he explains that as men move forward they feel the need to express that by buying more and more luxurious things. So a poor man will have a small house, humble clothes, and barely any food, while a rich man will have an enourmous house, lavish clothes, and enough food to feed him for more lifetimes than he could ever see.
"Darwin, the naturalist, says of the inhabitants of Tierra del Fuego, that while his own party, who were well clothed and sitting close to a fire, were far from too warm, these naked savages, who were farther off, were observed, to his great surprise, 'to be streaming with perspiration at undergoing such a roasting.' So, we are told, the New Hollander goes naked with impunity, while the European shivers in his clothes. Is it impossible to combine the hardiness of these savages with intellectualness of the civilized man?" p.9
(R/Q) Is it not possible to pertain to both characteristics? What about a civilized man makes him so sensitive to the cold? And at what point does the savage become too smart to remain warm in the nude? Is it only possible to have one but not the other? Or does the fact that a person is civilized imply that they're not to be walking around nude? Is a savage not expected to be of any intelligence?
" 'the villagers, who scarcely know where it lies, instead of going to the pond to bathe or drink, are thinking to bring its water, which should be as sacred as the Ganges at least, to the village in a pipe, or wash their dishes with it!' " p.XIV
(R) Thoreau seems to have been one of few that saw what was wrong with this picture. He learned to acknowledge and appreciate the importance of nature, and see it for its undisturbed beauty, which caused him to realize what the villagers planned on doing would result in more damage than improvement. He saw it blasphemous to treat something so pure and sacred with no regards for its delineative qualities.
"I do not know what life will be like... it feels disengaged, like a leaf divided from the tree that gives it sustenance." p.487
(R) There are very many things that can fall inside the bounds of this simile. From simple things as a lightbulb disconnected from its socket, to a baby far away from his mother. This specific simile speaks volumes to me. It holds truth for so many things that are off-point, meaningless, even 'disengaged', when removed from their 'tree that gives [them] sustenance.
"By the time it's my turn, I will know how well the others did, and how well I will have to do to beat them." p.382
(P) I think that observeing everyone else's performance could seriously improve Tris' score. I've always liked to go last or near-last whenever we have to do presentations for a class, partly because I'm shy, but also because I can see potential mistakes and correct them before I even go up. I see what everyone else does right and wrong and implement it whenever it's my turn. I feel like this is what Tris is going to do.
"Why do people want to pretend that death is sleep? It isn't. It isn't" p.303
(E) I feel like the only reason why this question is being posed is because death is something that's very hard for the characters, or anyone really, to accept. Death is just another part of life, and while it is hard to accept, it isn't something you can choose to ignore. Masking death as something as simple as sleep would be just plain wrong and disrespectful to the one that passed away. I know if I passed I wouldn't want people to think that I could just wake up again at any given moment.
"I should be pleased that I am ranked first, but I know what that means. If Peter and his friends hated me before, they will despise me now. Now I am Edward. It could be my eye next. Or worse." p.267
(P) I think something bad's going to happen to Tris. Edward used to be 1st in rankings but shortly after everyone found out, he got stabbed in his eye in his sleep. Since they already didn't like Tris to begin with I think something worse is going to happen to her.