ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -As nature is reborn, the narrator implies, so is he. Conclusion: In the final chapter, Thoreau criticizes conformity: “If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer.

Detailed explanation-2: -Thoreau’s strong individualism, rejection of the conventions of society, and philosophical idealism all distanced him from others. He had no desire to meet external expectations if they varied from his own sense of how to live his life.

Detailed explanation-3: -INDIVIDUALISM. In “Civil Disobedience, ” Thoreau expressed his belief in the power and, indeed, the obligation of the individual to determine right from wrong, independent of the dictates of society: “any man more right than his neighbors, constitutes a majority of one” (Reform Papers, 74).

Detailed explanation-4: -In his writings, and in Walden above all, Thoreau forged a thought-out way of life, a philosophy that insists that the individual turn not to the state, not to the gods, not to society, or even to history for a guide to life, but to nature and the self.

Detailed explanation-5: -By leaving society and living in solitude, Thoreau makes the ultimate commitment to self-reliance, in order to, as he says, “follow the bent of [his] genius.” He stresses the importance of living independently, as he builds his own house and lives off his own land.