The partridge provides an example of how animality can be perfected to the point at which it complements spirituality. He sees the partridge, the "winged cat," and the loon as natural symbols of how spirituality and animality can be integrated. Still very much interested in integrating the two instincts, the narrator turns to nature again for a solution - and he finds it. He cannot follow both his animal and his spiritual instincts at the same time. For the narrator to follow his animal instincts by fishing, he must disengage himself from spiritual activity the narrator finds it an "either-or" choice that he must make. Thus, through this dialogue, Thoreau is restating the incompatibility of spiritual consciousness and animalistic activity. We should note that when the Poet invites the Hermit to go fishing (an animalistic activity) the Hermit must completely abandon his higher thoughts in order to do so - in spite of the fact that he is "as near being resolved into the essence of things" as he ever was in his life. The Hermit and the Poet represent the two instinctual sides of the narrator. Yet the dialogue which begins this chapter indicates that he is still troubled by it. It seemed at the end of "Higher Laws" that the narrator had resolved the conflict between his animality and spirituality.
The ducks that circled above the pond in the autumn also provided a spectacle worth hours of observation. He spent much time observing him, listening to his wild, laughing cries, and occasionally rowed out to try and catch him.
The loon that the narrator observed swimming in Walden Pond is of special interest. While he was doing this, his imagination was so stimulated that he turned the ant fight into an epic war between "the red republicans" and "the black imperialists" - and thus he "skimmed off" another truth for man: is a war between ants any more or any less significant than one between men? In such a setting, his ability to perceive natural phenomena was developed to such an extent that he was able to observe and depict in minute detail a battle between red and black ants near his woodpile. The narrator gives us lively descriptions of otters, raccoons, woodcocks, turtledoves, squirrels, jays, and many other animals.
Partridges filed beneath his window, and beyond his window the woods were busy with animal activity. A phoebe built her nest in his shed and a robin dwelt in the pine tree next to his cabin. There is the friendly mouse that climbed up his sleeves and gobbled the crumbs given him. Should he continue his meditation or fish with his friend? "Shall I go to heaven or a-fishing?" Eventually he decides to fish and goes off with the Poet, leaving his deep thoughts for another time.Īfter this dialogue is completed, the narrator describes the various animals, the "brute neighbours," that harmoniously lived with him at Walden. The Hermit sits alone and muses upon a familiar question: "Why will men worry themselves so? He that does not eat need not work." The Poet approaches him and asks if he would like to go fishing, "the true industry for poets." The Hermit seriously considers the proposition. The chapter opens with a dramatic dialogue between a Hermit (who seems to represent the narrator) and a Poet.