I appreciate how Thoreau describes women in comparison to the walkers and shopkeepers in the world. In the time he described, when women were supposedly “keeping house”, they were in fact resting, and the house was keeping them safe. This is an interesting point because in the world around us now, the same jobs are available for humankind that Thoreau describes: merchants; office-workers; housekeepers, nannies, and maids; and then there are those that walk. It is an interesting look at gender roles in society, in that women are the sleepers and men are the walkers and workers. Personally, I feel that same as Thoreau in hi
Thoreau is calling for mindfulness in living. The feeling of being “out of sense” with his walk in the woods, when his mind was back on the village or some type of work that he was required to do, is an often-encountered feel in the shiny, brightly lit material world. However, Thoreau implies that if one lives mindfully in all planes of life, from office work to walking in the woods, then you can fully let go of all externalities when engaged in all action. I do not believe that Thoreau detests Mankind; in fact I believe that he imagines a world where man may live mindfully, doing work when necessary so that walking in the woods is all the more appreciated.
When reading Muir, I understand that he was trying to convey the sense of awe and wonder he felt when immersed in the nature there at Hetch Hetchy; however he is such a technical author that it was hard to really “fall into” the description and feel as if I was there. In that sense, because it was such a detailed and descriptive piece, the commercialists and constructors that Muir feels malevolence for could have a better understanding of the Valley in that they could imagine a “blueprint” in their minds, and from that image find the wonder that Muir feels. His call for conservation of the natural world is a necessary plea so that all people may view valleys like Hetch Hetchy and not experience through his writers lens.