Henry David Thoreau begins his novel of Walden with giving a brief summary on where he is, and the philosophy on why he is there. He also describes how he feels about the people in the society and how he will be narrating the novel. In the first few paragraphs he explains how society judges him about his actions on moving out onto the pond. Thoreau makes clear that this is not a permanent lifestyle, but an experiment on life as a whole. Henry David Thoreau explains that people feel like they have to live up to a hidden standard, and that people feel they must own certain things and have certain quantities of other things. He points out that all this does is add worry and trouble to people and that people are wasting valuable life and existence. Thoreau makes sure that he does not believe that...