The Walden Autobiography, written by Henry David Thoreau, shows the impact that transcendentalism had on Thoreau's outlook on life. In the book Walden, Thoreau uses long informal sentences, many rhetorical strategies throughout his writing, and partially expresses his feelings about transcendentalism and the three main key aspects of image, nature, and emotion. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay On Independence Day, July 4, 1845, Thoreau moved into a simple cabin that had not yet been fully completed, yet he was grateful to still have a cabin that protected him from rain and spills. Thoreau emphasizes the importance it has for Nature, which is partially evident In the chapter “From where I lived, and what I lived for” Thoreau mentions “I went into the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to face only the essential facts of life , and see if I could learn what it had to teach me, and not, when I was about to die, discover that I had not lived." The central idea was that all transcendentalists believed that personal experience was how one learns. Literally, people learned everything the hard way. Thoreau demonstrated this clearly in his experiment of living in the woods for two years. Notice how he didn't even hesitate to ask someone who had tried it but still had to learn on their own. Thoreau's opinion was that there is no other place to discover his true identity other than to live and devote himself to Nature and Transcendentalism. Secondly, a major theme of the Transcendentalists displayed in Walden was the emotion towards simplification and self-individuality. In the chapter “Solitude,” Thoreau establishes his argument using the rhetorical appeal of Pathos. He expresses his emotions by quoting “I have found that no amount of leg pulling can bring two minds much closer to each other.” Thoreau is saying that even with one's physical companionship one can feel lonely if one does not feel true companionship with one another. You see, Thoreau is able to be alone physically without feeling alone mentally, he relates this to a greater communion of self. He also quotes “However bad your life is, meet it and live it. It seems poorer when you are richer.” This relates to the key aspect of transcendentalism of emotions as Thoreau says that no matter how bad our life may seem, we should be grateful for the nature around us and the gift of life. Money does not buy happiness nor is it a necessity of the soul. Instead of living life materially we should live it individually and with conformity. Finally, Thoreau's use of figurative language of imagery is able to create a mental image that illustrates what he is actually experiencing in the story. For example, he quotes “as the sun rose, I saw it (the pond) throw off its night dress of fog, and here and there, little by little, its soft ripples or its smooth and reflective surface were revealed, while the mists, like ghosts, retreated stealthily from all sides into the woods, as if at the breakup of some nocturnal conventicle." In this sentence Thoreau uses imagery to describe the mist slowly rising from the surface of the pond. Likewise he quotes “every winter the liquid and trembling surface of the pond, which was so sensitive to every breath, and reflected every light and shadow, becomes solid at the depth of a foot or a foot and a half so as to support the most teams heavy and perhaps snow covers it to the same depth, and it cannot be distinguished from any flat field. Now he is describing the pond and how.