Henry David Thoreau writes of his experiences in his two-year experiment of "self reliance" on Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts. It is my opinion that Thoreau thought of himself as better than the average person and to an extent better than the person reading his very work. The allusions and ideals expressed in this work wreak of a smug and "better than though" context. The purpose of this experiment was to enact the philosophies and ideals of self- reliance and simplicity. His idea of simplicity is strewn throughout this work, ranting through a seemingly indecipherable mixture of allusions, metaphors, and actual ideas. One that I think is really very important is the concept of "modern improvements" (Thoreau 95). During a time of increasing technological and economic advances Thoreau is very skeptical of the idea that this new technology can increase his comfort in life. He says that there is...