Transcendentalism

In Walden showing individualism is expressed in a positive way and shown that it is a choice. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away." This shows how being different is a choice for the better and not totally following the view of society actually heightens your way of life. …

…life more simple and content. Many choose not to "follow the crowd" so that their life is less complicated and more real. Walden himself is very solitary and somehow resembles the stone in Emily Dickinson's poem. The stone is solitary without worrying about the way society views him just as in Walden. Overall being individual is more rewarding and you get more out of your life or was Thoreau would say, "a life worth living"