2. A major theme of this chapter is resurrection, the potential for each person to change his or her priorities and start life anew. Explain how the following serve as symbols of resurrection:
a) The thawing sand bank
b) The melting ice on Walden Pond
c) The influx of light
d) Wildness
e) The dead horse by the path
Each of these items represents resurrection to Thoreau as he is walking arohnd Walden. The thawing sand bank is represented due to "the morning...is the spring". The thawing sandbank is the hard ground becoming supple and easier to access by the animals of the woods. It is the new life of spring sprining up through the hard winter ground to become the fertile earth of springtime. The melting ice on Walden Pond represents new purity (water) being made new again as it thaws from the solid ice of the wonter pond to a fluid and almost living water of the Spring. Walden's ice may be leaving after its neighboring ponds have thawed, but the ice is still clear and gives way to much more pure crystal waters. The influx of light is rebirth. The new light is akin to being born anew and experiencing a new world through the light of the sun. The new day and change from little and grey light in the winter to abundant and "so pure and bright a light" in the spring. This lightnot only allows for more work to be done, but invites more animals to come out of hiding and lets a person mingle with the creatures lf the woods. The wilderness is also reborn in the spring. Thireau says "we need the tonic of wilderness" to guide us to experience all that Nature has to offer. All of the sparrows and robins return from their winter homes to once again grace Walden Pond in the springtime. The birds bring with them their song along with feelings of rebirth and a sense of hope that the coming year will be fruitful. The dead horse by the path led Thoreau to go out of his way, however it was a symbol of the "strong appetite and inviolable health of Nature" as Nature continues on and supports itself even as it is "squashed". In this way Thoreau describes death as being a liability and not something to be concerned about for we should live inthe present and appreciate what's there in the current moment.
a) The thawing sand bank
b) The melting ice on Walden Pond
c) The influx of light
d) Wildness
e) The dead horse by the path
Each of these items represents resurrection to Thoreau as he is walking arohnd Walden. The thawing sand bank is represented due to "the morning...is the spring". The thawing sandbank is the hard ground becoming supple and easier to access by the animals of the woods. It is the new life of spring sprining up through the hard winter ground to become the fertile earth of springtime. The melting ice on Walden Pond represents new purity (water) being made new again as it thaws from the solid ice of the wonter pond to a fluid and almost living water of the Spring. Walden's ice may be leaving after its neighboring ponds have thawed, but the ice is still clear and gives way to much more pure crystal waters. The influx of light is rebirth. The new light is akin to being born anew and experiencing a new world through the light of the sun. The new day and change from little and grey light in the winter to abundant and "so pure and bright a light" in the spring. This lightnot only allows for more work to be done, but invites more animals to come out of hiding and lets a person mingle with the creatures lf the woods. The wilderness is also reborn in the spring. Thireau says "we need the tonic of wilderness" to guide us to experience all that Nature has to offer. All of the sparrows and robins return from their winter homes to once again grace Walden Pond in the springtime. The birds bring with them their song along with feelings of rebirth and a sense of hope that the coming year will be fruitful. The dead horse by the path led Thoreau to go out of his way, however it was a symbol of the "strong appetite and inviolable health of Nature" as Nature continues on and supports itself even as it is "squashed". In this way Thoreau describes death as being a liability and not something to be concerned about for we should live inthe present and appreciate what's there in the current moment.
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