Thoreau Comes to Elmsford

In addition to reading Thoreau's "Walden" over the break and writing your close reading response, please complete the following:

You wake up this morning and Henry David Thoreau is sleeping on the couch in your living room. OMG! Wake him up and take him on a trip through your daily life. Introduce him to the modern world and chronicle his thoughts, opinions and reactions. You may write this as a creative narrative or a journal log. Be sure to be true to Henry's Transcendentalist beliefs and support his opinions with facts and quotes from his work and his teacher Emerson's writings.

Are You a Secret Transcendentalist?

In a few simple sentences, answer these ten survey questions as honestly and completely as possible. Feel free to comment on other answers in a polite and respectful manner.


1. If you had a choice between going to Hawaii or going to Alaska, which place would
be your destination, and why?

2. Given the choice, would you prefer to walk in the woods, or along a beach, or down
the streets of a big city? Why or why not?

3. What is the one daredevil thing that you hope to do sometime, if you haven't already
done it?

5. Pinpoint an occasion when you found yourself disagreeing with your friends. How
did they react to you? How did their reaction make you feel?

6. When you go to shop, do you look for brand names all the time, some of the time, or
hardly ever? Why?

7. What would be your reaction to a classmate who refused to salute the flag?

8. What gadget that you currently do not own would you like to get? How, in your opinion, would it make your life better?

9. Can you think of any government policy (local, state, or federal) with which you have trouble/disagree? What can you do about it?

10. When you work on an important project (one that you find interesting and challenging), how do you prefer to work? By yourself, with a chosen partner, or with a group? Why?