I don't know if this helps any. It's a short comparison from my 10th grade year english class.
October 3, 2004
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A Love of the Woods
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Bill Bryson and Henry David Thoreau have a lot in
common. They also have their share of differences. They both have a dislike for
development. They both venture into the forest for no particular reason. These
two authors were from different times and had different lifestyles, however,
both men shared a love for the woods.
In A Walk in
the Woods and The Maine Woods, these two authors went on journeys
into the wilderness to find something within themselves. These men have the
urge just to get away from society for a while, and decide to go wandering off
into the wild. Bryson had the “if I don’t do it now, I probably never will”
attitude and decided to go for it. Bryson wasn’t exactly sure why he decided to
go on his trek, but something inside him just said, “Sounds neat! Let’s do it”
(Bryson 4)! Thoreau just felt like
going into the forest for a while and exploring what was out there.
These two authors
both tried to preserve the wilderness, and to convey that message to us in
their writing. Throughout the novel, Bill Bryson jumps from his personal story
about his hike to little asides telling about how more species are
disappearing, and what we should do to help. He bluntly points out that plants
and animals are dying, and that it is the humans’ fault. He informs us that
“ninety plant species have disappeared from the balds since the park opened in
the 1930’s. At least twenty-five more are expected to go in the next few years.
There is no plan to save them” (Bryson 93). Bryson openly lets us know these
little facts throughout the novel, as opposed to Thoreau’s delicate approach to
saving the wildlife.
In The
Maine Woods, Thoreau points out how loggers are cutting down the valuable
forests in northern Maine, and that the land should be conserved and left in
its naturalness. He does this much more subtly than Bryson, and throughout his
exploration tells us about the forest and the creatures that live there, and
hopes that we will feel something for them. He points out how much he likes the
wildlife, and then talks about its uses for him on his journey and then about
what could happen to it if the forest is cut down. An example of this is when
he talks about how great the tea was made of checkerberry, and how “this
handsome plant is one of the most abundant in that forest” (Thoreau 170). Then
he subtly points out how “that forest” is disappearing due to logging. Both of
these authors try to make the reader understand that the natural forest is
dwindling, and that we should do something about it. This is a universal point
in these pieces of literature, and even though they are completely different
novels, the share the same themes.
These men
are not the only people who think this way. Restore: The North Woods is
an organization run out of Hallowell, Maine, that is thinking the same way
Thoreau was. In response to the Plum Creek Development project, they are a
leading group in currently trying to make a 3 million acre national park of
northern Maine. Actually, they say
that:
The Maine
Woods wilderness of the mid-1800s made such a deep impression on Henry David
Thoreau that he envisioned it becoming a “national preserve.” Today, thanks to
a unique convergence of events, we have a second chance to realize Thoreau’s
vision by creating a new Maine Woods National Park and Preserve. (Restore)
This shows that Thoreau’s ideas of preservation and
greatness of the wilderness are carried on even today. The love for the woods
has been shown from Thoreau in the 1800’s, to Bryson on his comedic trek, to a
group in a neighboring town today. In another article it says that “the Thoreau
Society, founded in 1941, is by far the largest organized fan club of any
American writer, and likely of any writer anywhere - dead or alive”(Shanahan).
This group has over 1,600 members in all 50 states, and 20 countries. This
proves that the ideas that Bryson and Thoreau stood for are not that uncommon.
Another theme that they have in common is love for
being in the woods. Bryson says in A Walk in the Woods that even though
it is eleven degrees outside, he his happy because he is going for a walk in
the woods, while people all across America are going to work. Throughout the
story, he talks of being in the rain, and bad weather, but it seems all right,
because he is glad to be in the woods. “I didn’t care. I just walked. I was
very happy” (Bryson 85). Thoreau states in his work that he was so happy, that
he was barely aware of the weather, and fell asleep to the pitter-patter of
rain. Though they still have their differences, both these men both enjoy being
in nature and share a love for the wilderness.
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Bryson, Bill. A Walk in the
Woods. New York: Broadway, 1998.
Restore: The North Woods. October
2, 2005. <www.restore.org/index_flash.html>
Shanahan, Mark. “Thoreau Society
Keeps Ideas Alive.” 1997. October 2, 2005.
<http://www.destinationmaine.com/thoreau/society.htm>
Thoreau, Henry David. The Maine
Woods. New Jersey: Random House, 1993
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