1. Thoreau states that “men labor under a mistake” and that “the mass of men lead lives of silent desperation.” Thoreau in the first quote says that men work for all the wrong reasons. This statement holds great truth because Thoreau believes that we should work just to have enough to survive. Thoreau does not want us to work to have these surplus luxuries that many have. This statement holds truth, because why would people work so hard to be able to pay for a luxury vacation that they won't even get to enjoy? Why will they have to continue working again to pay for it when they return? . So many pick up all these extra hours of work so they can pay for dinner out with the family and get new cars, which he says are all luxuries. In the second quote Thoreau says this to show the negatives in his perspective of how bad the traditional American lifestyle is. He's trying to explain that most men have really bad lives and live really badly, but he doesn't do or say anything about it. I think that this statement presented here actually contains some truth. So many men today are dissatisfied with their lives, so all they do is find other things to occupy their time, like working harder, or random hobbies that they would do so they don't have to deal with their lives. All these men are so upset with the way their lives are struggling, but they let it all pass in silence. These quotes that Thoreau says both contain a lot of truth.2. In the chapter “Economy” Thoreau states that the necessities of life are food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. In this passage he states that these needs are something we have the ability to receive from the earth, and after...... middle of paper ...... they cannot go to church, and create reasoning as to why the religion is falsified and what they are teaching us is not true. Thoreau's quote from his passage really made me think about not only modern society, but also things in my life, how week after week I say I have homework, I'm too tired, I pretend to sleep so I don't have to attend church. In today's world religion is slowly disintegrating from our lives, which Thoreau mentions, and he is also saying that religion no longer has the meaning it had before. Nowadays in our society, just like Thoreau mentions, they will pray and then the next minute they will contradict themselves and go away and sin. This quote that Thoreau wrote many years ago and its ability to still be true in modern times surprised me at the idea that he could mention a topic with the same problems then as there are today.