Rejecting Adam's Curse: Thoreau's Call to a Better Life

 There is a popular notion, that Americans associate with our Puritan roots, that a man must work hard in order to earn their daily bread, an idea known as Adam's curse. Thoreau wholeheartedly rejects this notion in Walden when he denies the biblical curse that resulted in man's fall from grace: "It is not necessary that a man should earn his living by the sweat of his brow, unless he sweats easier than I do" (64). There is a related idea that idle hands do the devil's work, a cliche that suggests that a man with leisure time is likely to sin, so keeping busy is a way to stay on the path of righteousness.  Thoreau argues contrariwise that men should work less so that they can spend more leisure time contemplating the lessons to be found in nature, thereby improving their souls.

The problem that Thoreau finds in those that are chained to their labor is not that they labor, but that they "labor under a mistake" (7); the mistake being that men waste their efforts pursuing unnecessary material good to the neglect of their own personal inner-development. Thoreau is concerned that in a mad attempt to keep up with the Jones's, to use the parlance of our day, people are starving their souls. People are so concerned with purchasing material comforts that they forget to take care of their spiritual needs.
 
Thoreau forces readers to consider whether or not they can truly afford the material goods that they purchase. Is exotic food necessary or will simpler fare suffice? If your old coat is still intact, why do you need a new one? Most importantly, can you afford the things that you buy? Or are you living, as Thoreau puts it, on "another's brass" (8) -- living on credit and establishing debt that condemns man to toil in conditions that perhaps would be best avoided. Thoreau specifically addresses his neighbors in Concord but his message is universal and applicable to all. Furthermore, Thoreau puts his money - or lack thereof - where his mouth is by demonstrating that it was viable to work less and live more; Walden is a call for men to "live deliberately" - a call for people to contemplate life as they experience it.

The experiment of living solely by the efforts of his own hands (aside from the help he hires for farming and the occasional dinner party he attends) is the basis for Walden. Thoreau offers detailed accounting of all his expenses, crowing over how little money and time sustainability costs. He was able to purchase enough food for eight months with a mere $8.74, equivalent to $185.61 today (that's a couple of weeks for me and I know I could eat cheaper but convenience and freshness counts). He even estimates he could have lived on three dollars less if he not indulged on luxuries such as dried apples and a pumpkin. Thoreau elsewhere gives the average rate of a day laborer as one dollar per day, which means that a person could earn his food for eight months - even with the luxury items - in nine days.

The Irish laborer John Field is offered as an example of someone who's inefficient labor practices condemn his family to perpetual poverty. Field is "an honest, hard-working, but shiftless man" (184), an oxymoronic description that exemplifies Thoreau's point perfectly. Field works hard to scrape together a living for his family but is unable to get ahead, which is why he is shiftless.  Thoreau tries to teach Field about economy and suggests that the Irishman could escape the bonds of wage-slavery if he would forgo luxuries such as tea, coffee, butter, and fresh meat. Thoreau further illustrates Field's lack of economy when they go fishing . Field uses worms to catch shiners, small fish that he uses as bait to catch larger perch; Thoreau uses worms to catch perch. When the two fish together, Field "disturbed only a couple of fins while I [Thoreau] was catching a fair string" (187). The message is clear: Field works twice as hard for less reward.