The main point of these quotes is that people need to live a simple life.
The reason that Thoreau went to Walden in the first place is because he wanted to live closer to nature and in a way that was not so materialistic as he thought that contemporary society was becoming. He believed that an obsession with material things prevented people form focusing on what was really important.
Both of the quotes you cite illustrate this idea. In the same passage where he says these things, he argues that the really important things in life can be numbered on ten fingers or, in extreme cases, the fingers and toes.
Specifically, I believe the first quote means that we spend our lives running around frantically like ants when we really don't need to. The second quote means that we spend too much time on details -- things that don't really matter in the greater scheme of things.
So, instead of frittering away our lives slaving away like ants trying to get more things, we should concentrate on what is really important in life.
No comments:
Post a Comment