Thoreau uses the lifecycle of an insect to comment on the individual's potential to mature philosophically. The larva state is characterizes as a state of greed and "gross feeding", which is relatable to the state that the immature human. Thoreau defines "gross feeder" as "a man in the larva state" to complete his metaphor as well as build an indelible image of the immature and unproductive man being equivalent to the immature insect. An example of the human gross feeder is the farmer that Thoreau describes in "Economy." He demonstrates his ignorance and primitive thinking by saying, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely,

The emergence of the bug from the table in the "conclusion" signifies the one who can resist the influences of society. The setting that the bug emerges from is described as, "the dry leaf of an old table of apple tree wood." This is to show that society is old in its thinking, and offers stiff resistance. Thoreau then goes on to put life or humanity in the same setting. He says, "Who knows what beautiful and winged life, whose egg has been buried for ages under many concentric layers of woodenness in the dead dry life of society..." (381) He is challenging society to experience the life that is their potential. The "concentric layers" symbolize the ignorance and lack of maturity that society has to over come to experience the "beautiful and winged life." Thoreau then goes to the evolution of reaching his state. When he says, "...deposited at first in the alburnum of the green and living tree, which has been gradually converted into the semblance of its well-seasoned tomb..." (382) He is showing that the "green and living tree" are the potential that you are born with, or start with, but as time goes on your ability to reach that potential is compromised and it then becomes impossible, hence the symbol "tomb."

Finally, one has to notice the larger meaning of the bug metaphors. Thoreau shows through all of his essays that there is a problem with society, and then he shows the proper way that one might remedy this problem. By the end of Walden the reader is tired and almost disheartened by the state of society, and feels that it is impossible with society in the state that it is to achieve simplicity. Therefore, at the end when Thoreau gives an example of the triumph of one. He uses the following symbols to demonstrate this: The table is to represent the resistance that society faces in achieving a simple state, the bug emerges from the constrains of society (the table), and is beautiful. This is significant because the bug is a metaphor f

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Approximate Word count = 1325
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)