1. Assess the title of the essay. What sounds is Thoreau talking about?
2. What does Thoreau think of the railroad? Assess his critique, not only of the railroad itself but of the culture surrounding it. How does he use the railroad rhetorically, to make larger points?
3. Thoreau indulges in considerable anthropomorphizing in this essay (that is, he gives human characteristics to nonhumans). Why? What is his point?
1. Why did Thoreau grow beans at Walden Pond? What did he mean by his question, "What shall I learn of beans and beans of me?" What does he learn? What are we supposed to learn?
2. How did he justify "making the earth say beans instead of grass"? What does he tell us about nature and civilization? Is it acceptable to transform the earth, according to Thoreau? If so, under what conditions?
3. Evaluate the significance of the arrowheads Thoreau turns up--what does Thoreau make of them? How are they important rhetorically in the essay?