Puzzled

At first, after reading Thoreau's piece I was puzzled as to what connection you were trying to have us make though Thoreau's literature and that of Emerson. However, as I went back to reread the piece I came to discover that it was the writing style that was preventing me from making the connection between the ideologies. Emerson being such an intriguing and diverse author and Thoreau being a literary artist of more of a modern nature, threw me for a loop. However, Thoreau is stating some good points such as; we must learn to reawaken ourselves. This is similar to becoming re-inspired to find our own truth in nature. One of Emerson's main points. In addition, by saying that it is one thing to be able to paint or sculpt a particular picture, (through imitation), it is more extravagant to imitate the atmosphere of which we look everyday. This is similar to Emerson's statement of imitation being suicide. Why paint something belonging to someone else when we can paint our own picture of life? Although in the beginning Thoreau's description of his house and ownership of land and such casualties distracted me from making a connection between the two writers (due to the fact that Emerson's main standpoint is that we need to separate ourselves from the conformist ideas and our possessions and make a new beginning in nature, though learning to be one-on-one with god) Thoreau's main ideas are similar to those of Emerson, in that we need to slow down life, and learn to look at the little things as extravagance, such as a child does upon seeing something for the first time. "The sun illuminates only the eye of man, yet shines into the eye and the heart of the child."- Emerson. "Children, who play life, discern its true law and relations more clearly then men, who fail to live it worthily, but who think that they are wiser by experience, that is, by failure."- Thoreau. After going though the reading a second time, the similarities seemed to become more and more obvious. Both authors are saying that we need to find our own sense of life, rather then looking at the past and searching for the answers to our future. To those who are reading this post, you probably think I am a lunatic, but i needed to write down my thoughts in order to understand what I was thinking. :)