This week’s reading starts in the middle of the chapter, “The Ponds.” On the top of page 101, Thoreau describes as a “well,” which is how people used to get their drinking water before houses came equipped with faucets. Even when the weather is warm, the pond is so deep that he’s able to get cold water to drink from it. To keep it cool, he puts it in his cellar. Remember, there was no refrigeration back then so the only way to keep your water cold was to find a cool place to keep it. In the next paragraph, which runs onto page 102, Thoreau describes the many kinds of fish in the pond. To me, it sounds like there are a lot of fish, but he says that the pond is “not very fertile in fish,” which means it doesn't have many of them. Did you notice the italicized words after the names of the various fish, birds, and turtles? He’s using the scientific names. Go ahead and look at the pictures you took at Oakland Lake with your iNaturalist app. The IDs are those Latin scientific names. Check out the Encyclopedia Britannica for more information about how species are named.
On page 102, he personifies the lake. Who or what is he comparing it to? On the bottom of page 103, he compares the pond to a mirror. What is he saying the mirror is reflecting? Here’s another metaphor! What are the qualities of a mirror? By the end of the paragraph how has he has extended the metaphor? In the long paragraph from 104-105, he’s kind of tripping on this pond. He talks some more about the surface and about the insects who either skate along it or cause it to ripple. Imagine being like Thoreau and sitting in a boat in the middle of a lake. Think about the air all around you. Picture what’s happening below your little boat in the water below. This is what Thoreau is doing. He’s describing bringing his awareness to the present. Can you do the same thing? He loves talking about the people who lived in the area in the past. Of course, back then, the Indians had very recently populated those woods. What does he find that reminds him of who once lived there? In the paragraph on the bottom of page 105, he observes how the “woodchoppers” have taken away the birds’ habitat, much like people today worry about the rainforest. On page 106, he refers to the railroad as the “Iron Horse,” and talks about how its ruined the water for the villagers. He personifies Walden Pond again in the middle of 106. Do think he’s comparing it to a man or a woman? Does it matter? Why? There’s a nice transition from 106-107 where he describes how the ponds of the wood are “related” to each other. Perhaps there’s a water table that runs underneath? This transition, however, allows him to focus next on Flint Pond. This pond is not as clean and nice as Walden. I think he’s saying there was once a mill there that polluted the water and the land around it. He’s mad. He says the farmer who owned the land around it cares more about money than about the destruction he’s causing to the land. That’s why Thoreau prefers “poor farmers.” On the bottom of 108, he mentions Goose Pond, and then the most beautiful pond of them all, White Pond. He says it’s a lot like Walden Pond. But even better! Is there an upside-down pine tree in the pond? Or is it partially in the pond? This description confused me. I love the last paragraph of this chapter on page 110. He is so in love with these ponds and with Nature. He brings all his poetic soul to this passage. The next chapter is “Baker Farm” and it starts out with a simile where he compares groups of pine trees to various things. Go ahead and look them up. You won’t understand the comparisons if you don’t. You might also want to google what a “grove” looks like so you can really picture what he’s describing. He names various types of trees and ends the paragraph with a metaphor. Now that you’ve seen what a grove looks like, can you understand the comparison he’s making to a “shrine?” It’s like he’s saying there’s something holy about being amongst these tees. On the top of page 111, he stands inside of a rainbow. When is the last time you saw a rainbow? Do you remember the colors? In the middle of page 111, he arrives at Baker Farm. On page 112, we meet John Field and his family. How do you think Thoreau feels about John Field? Does he like him? Admire him? Or is he critical? You might have to read this passage more than once. At the end of the paragraph, as it runs onto page 113, Thoreau is using the example of John Field to make a point about the relationship between work and consumption. He’s saying the man works very hard physically; therefore, he needs to eat more food than someone like Thoreau who only grows what he needs. He’s also making a larger point about the American Dream of a life filled with lots of things, how hard we have to work to get those things, and how much of the Earth’s resources we need to use to have the energy to work that hard. What do you think? Do you agree with Thoreau? Do you think this still applies today? He goes fishing with John Field and at the end of the chapter has the insight that he is “a poor man, born to be poor.” He believes this poverty, and the qualities that lead to poverty, to be inherited. Do you agree with Thoreau here? What if this visit was written from John Field’s point of view? What would be different? On page 115, we start the chapter, “Higher Laws.” On the way home from fishing with John Field, he craves meat so I guess his bean-growing and fishing aren’t as fulfilling as he makes them out to me. If there was a McDonalds’s in the woods, how much you want to bet he’d run in there and get a Big Mac? He reflects, on page 116, that he doesn’t need to carry a gun to study birds. Have any of you ever gone hunting. How do you think Thoreau feels about hunting? Does he view fishing in the same way he views hunting?
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