What is the theme of Walden by Henry David Thoreau?

To the answer
above, I would add that Thoreau--as any Transcendentalist--also believed heavily in the idea of
self-reliance. In fact, the entire experiment atpond was Thoreau's attempt to put into practice
the ideas expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Emerson was the thinker/philosophy; Thoreau was the
"do-er."

Much of Walden is the lessons Thoreau learned from living
in the woods for 18 months. In living a self-reliant life close to nature, Thoreau believed he
was closer to God and therefore was a better person.