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Despite being constantly criticized for his unique ways, Henry David Thoreau influenced the ways that people thought about society and themselves in America. While at Walden Pond for 2 years and 2 months, he discovered that the key to making his life more fulfilling was to make it simpler. He first brought the question, "How do I really want to live?" out to the forefront of the Transcendentalist movement in the 19th century. Henry David Thoreau's Walden …

…enemies are worms, cool days, and most of all woodchucks"(The Bean Field). Yet he is not completely different from other Transcendentalists, for common to Emerson, he feels "How worn and dusty...must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!"(Conclusion). Despite his many differences with other Transcendentalists, Henry David Thoreau agrees through Walden that the key to life is simplicity in nature and simplicity in each day.