Thorough(Thoreau) Controversy?

Thomas Paine once stated in order to prove something as “flawed” or “controversial,” one must meet his contenders on “their own ground, and oppose them with their own weapon” (Paine 93). Thought Paine used this principle to disprove the bible, the same strategy can be used in arguing against the theories that Henry David Thoreau presents his reader with in Walden; or, Life in the Woods. Though Thoreau acts as if his theoretically enhancing lifestyle is the ideal way to live, Leo Stoller opposes him by examining the actual way in which Thoreau approached his life.
Thoreau obviously opposes the idea of living an industrialized lifestyle in which a person sustains a style of living that is supported by working means. Thoreau states that he witnesses his fellow townsmen “whose misfortune it is to have inherited farms, houses, barns, cattle and farming tools…men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon ploughed into the compost” (Thoreau 2). Though Thoreau opposes the idea of being “industrial,” Stoller points out that Thoreau himself had to resort to a business in raising beans in order to sustain his living conditions.
Another flaw that may be analyzed in Thoreau’s legitimacy in preaching an ideal lifestyle involving a strong community base, can be assessed using another one of Stoller’s claims. Stoller states that though Thoreau wanted to observe nature, a means by which Thoreau believes someone can find themselves, Thoreau wanted to “combine an opportunity for observing nature with a means of earning money” (Stoller). Though Thoreau has a supposedly strong belief in nature playing an influential part in the construction of one’s character, his own claims contradict each other. Thoreau claims that he “thought that Walden Pond would be a great place for business” (Thoreau 13). Through examining Thoreau’s claims on business and Stoller’s ideas regarding Thoreau, one can easily say that Thoreau was not as community oriented as he seems.
Thoreau’s contradiction of himself can make anyone doubt their own perceptions and beliefs in Thoreau. A person might even go to the extent of asking if his Thoreau wrote his ideas in order to enhance a person’s way of thinking, or basically to make people buy a book that they would believe would help their lifestyle.
Paine, Thomas. The Age of Reason. Mineola: Dover, 2004. Print.

Stoller, Leo. "After Walden." Academic Search Premiere. Stanford University Press. Web. 24 Nov. 2009. .

Thoreau, Henry. Walden; or, Life in the Woods. New York: Dover, 1995. Print.