In the
paragraph of that precedes the one from which this quote comes,discusses
slavery in literal and figurative terms. He offers the example of a teamster (driver of a team
of horse) who works for a squire and is caught up with the daily realities of feeding and
watering the horses rather than being concerned with his own destiny. Thoreau discusses the
importance of a person's self-opinion as the factor that "determines, or€¦indicates, his
fate."
He argues that people become resigned to their situation because
they lose hope and spend their time covering up their true, desperate feelings. Even animals,
such as muskrats, may be more courageous than some people. We cannot avoid our emotions through
mere distractions because we still must go back to work:
The mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation. What is called resignation is
confirmed desperation. From the desperate city you go into the desperate country, and have to
console yourself with the bravery of minks and muskrats. A stereotyped but unconscious despair
is concealed even under what are called the games and amusements of mankind. There is no play in
them, for this comes after work.
Thoreau continues by
saying that people confuse necessities with desires. We should attend more closely to "what
are the true necessaries and means of life" and not be swayed by the "mere smoke of
opinion." What we learn from our own experience is more valuable than heeding the advice of
others. He goes on to advocate living simply in order to find out what are the real
"necessaries":
It would be some advantage to
live a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to
learn what are the gross necessaries of life and what methods have been taken to obtain
them.
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