Tuesday, November 18, 2008

“Winter Animals” the 15th chapter of Henry David Thoreau’s book Walden, describes the wildlife he encountered during the winter months of his stay at Walden. The title “Winter Animals” reflects the Transcendental idea that all nature is unique and important. By putting “winter” in front of “animals,” Thoreau is putting importance on these animals. By using “winter” as an adjective, he is making these animals distinct from all other animals. These aren’t just any animals, these are WINTER animals. He is suggesting that each animal has an integral and distinct part in nature and society. If he titled the chapter “Animals Present During the Winter Months” or “Overwintering Animals,” it would suggest that the animals are just there, and not a greater part of the intricate ecosystem.

The purpose of “Winter Animals” is to describe the animals and their everyday actions during the winter months. In turn, he shows how all animals are related and all their actions affect each other, and that they are all important and part of an intricate system. For example, first he describes how a red squirrel eats corn cobs Thoreau gives it. “At length he would reach the corn, and selecting a suitable ear… and there sit for hours… nibbling at first voraciously and throwing the half-naked cobs about…” (Thoreau 2) Then, he describes the actions of the jays that arrive. “…they flit from tree to tree, nearer and nearer, and pick up the kernels which the squirrels have dropped” (Thoreau 2). After that, he describes the actions of the chickadees. “…came the chickadees, which, picking up the crumbs the squirrels had dropped,” (Thoreau 3). Thoreau includes these details to support nature’s complicacy and the individual power of animals.

By going into great detail about the animals, Thoreau conveys a very respectful and admiring tone towards the animals. He writes if each action is significant. For example, the squirrel just didn’t run to the tree, but it would “frisk about in the same uncertain trigonometrical way to the topmost stick…” (Thoreau 2). By including the word “trigonometrical,” he makes the squirrel seem intelligent. Also, he uses personification to support his admirable tone. He conveys great respect for animals by writing about them like they are humans. For example, he describes the jays as “They were manifestly thieves, and I had not much respect for them” (Thoreau 3). The chickadees “pick a dinner” (Thoreau 3), not just find food.

The audience is the majority of the population that isn’t Transcendentalist. By going into great detail about the small actions of each animal, Thoreau is opening the eyes of people unaware of the power and beauty of nature. At the end of the chapter, Thoreau asks “What is a country without rabbits and partridges?” (Thoreau 5) to make the reader themselves observe the individual importance of animals familiar to the reader.

By personifying the actions of the individual animals he encounters, Thoreau mirrors nature with the human society, and shows how all nature is important and integral to everything around it.

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