Chapter 5 Summary

In "Solitude," Thoreau explores his life at Walden Pond in the context of the physical distance that the place afforded him from society. One of the questions that he said his neighbors asked him was if he was ever lonely. It is in this chapter that he answers that question.

The chapter opens in the same manner as those before it; Thoreau addresses his subject at his leisure, beginning instead by observing the effect of visitors: the gifts that they leave for him, such as cards or flowers, and the tracks that they inadvertently leave, like disturbed grass, footprints, or discarded flowers.

Thoreau explains that his closest neighbor is a mile away, and no homes are easily visible from his. This afforded his imagination a freedom that allowed him to imagine that he was in a wilderness, or, in essence, that he could...