Jeremy Keeshin

Life Without Principle – Henry David Thoreau

I. Thesis: People lose the purity in their lives by being caught in the system
of working immoral jobs and being under government control.
II. Contention: In an attempt to make a living, people misguidedly seek monetary
profit when they should profit from getting the living.
a. Jobs that yield real profit rarely yield much money (156).
b. People’s jobs are pointless, as the man throwing the rock over and back
over the wall (157).
c. Jobs that reward money make people into something less than human for
taking these pointless jobs (158).
d. People cheat in business; they do not want things done correctly, but
things that “profit” them the most (159).
e. It is better to reach high and fail than to be satisfied with mediocrity (161).
f. People should not work immorally to dishonest jobs.
g. People who are gold- diggers and gamblers are equally as dishonorable
(163).
h. People engage in activities such as graveyard robbing which are very
immoral.
i. The labor that people work at for money is inherently self-deprecating.
III. Contention: There are very few true intellectual men.
a. People are all caught up in some institutions that take hold of them (167).
b. People seem to all focus on money.
IV. Contention: We should not spoil the purity of our mind with foolish news and
gossip.
a. The ineffectiveness of conversation causes people to resort to gossip.
b. People who focus too much on trivial news items miss the important
events in their own life (170).
c. News and gossip just dirty the mind, which should be a pure part of the
body (171).
d. You should not give importance to all the events of others, but the events
you yourself are involved in (170).
V. Contention: Government does not put us in the land of the free, but a large
paradox.
a. We are not under freedom, but we are slaves of morality and prejudice.
b. Government tries to control with legislation activities that are not its to
control (176).
c. Politics is a manipulative and vital part of society (178).