6. Visitors

In the 6th chapter of Walden, by Henry David Thoreau, the author portrays the different aspects of society through the different visitors who come to his cabin, and the observation of these visitors reflects Thoreau’s comprehension of transcendentalism. A direct purpose of this chapter is to show that a minimalist approach to being hospitable will inevitably lead to a better connection with the visitor, but this requires both the host and the visitor to have the mind set of accepting and expecting less. In this sense, Thoreau is expressing that often societal expectation hinder more important aspects of a relationships from occurring, and that the correct mind set, such as the French-Canadian character praised in this chapter, will produce a different but more beneficial life for a person.
Thoreau idealizes the simplistic lifestyle, and when on the subject of a simple life vs. a “superficial” life there is an apparent shift in tone and diction. On the subject of living simply, Thoreau is sure to have a tone of appreciate of all aspects of life, and it is a tone rejoicing in all the greatness life has to offer. This tone is shown by Thoreau’s somewhat strange description of the French-Canadians tree stumps, that a “sled might slide over the stumps.” This carefully chosen description sets the joyous tone Thoreau uses for half of the chapter, and the diction correlates to the tone as well. He chose words such as “indulge” to describe the simple action of chopping down a tree. Also he uses religious parallelism to enhance the near divinity and heavenly experience a simple life has to offer (“…holy posts in a day, who made his last supper…”). In contrast, Thoreau adopted a pensive and almost malicious tone when expressing his visitors who were far away from his ideal lifestyle and mind set. Often times he would use their dialogue, then evaluate everything wrong with the person. Thoreau was sure to use words such as “concluded” and “ceased” to describe young means life already ending because they had fallen so into the corporate world.
The audience is mainly general because the concepts being shown by Thoreau can be applied to anyone and can be appreciated my all who already understand transcendentalism, though it is possible that Thoreau would’ve had a few past visitors in mind. The title “Visitors” reflects not only the people visiting Thoreau’s cabin in the woods, but the different perceptions of what is hospitable. Some came expecting a good meal, when Thoreau ate a “frugal” dinner himself. This chapter had a story with an aphorism that “they were wiser to think that apologies could supply the place of food to their guests”. This concept coincides with Thoreau’s view that life should be simple and superficial expectations should not interfere with ones private way of living. Since many of his guests did not understand his perception of life, they could’ve very well taken his actions as inhospitable and Thoreau through his examples in this chapter would like to prove to these visitors otherwise.
The title “Visitors” holds more meaning than just the physical people entering Thoreau’s home. These visitors reflect different types of people, some who in Thoreau’s opinion are getting the most out of life and others who are so superficial that their life has ceased at an early age. The accepted expectation of the title is jeopardized in this chapter by Thoreau devaluing common hospitality and promoting simple relationships with other people, nature, and oneself. This concept is shown by “Visitors” but is promoted by Thoreau to be utilized in all aspects of life.