Walden · Characters
Character guide
Key figures in Walden by Henry David Thoreau.
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Henry David Thoreau
major
Also known as Unknown, a true Homeric or Paphlagonian man, mine, myself
Thoreau withdraws to the woods not to escape people but to winnow them, and the visitors who reach his lodge—like the Canadian woodchopper who carries cold woodchuck and a reverence for Homer he cannot read—arrive under more favorable circumstances than any parlor allows. He is a surveyor of ponds and of men, skeptical of inherited opinion, and quietly delighted when a simple laborer proves wiser than the village. His experiment in living deliberately gives the book its method: every encounter, every sounding line, becomes a test of what a life is actually worth.
John Field
supporting
Also known as Poor John Field!, John
Field lives with his wife and children in a leaky house on poor land, rising early to work another man's fields while his own go untended, and Thoreau finds in him a cautionary mirror rather than a villain. The tension is between honest toil and honest living: Field wants comfort and respectability on credit, and Thoreau gently argues he could have both by wanting less. Their exchange anchors the book's middle, turning abstract economy into a face, a muddy yard, and a cup of water offered in hospitality.
John Farmer
minor
A farmer who sits at his door and hears a flute, symbolizing a contemplative life.
Flint
minor
A former owner of the pond's shore, criticized for his materialistic land management.
Col. Quoil
minor
Also known as Quoil
A former soldier and drunkard who lived in a shanty near the pond.
Brister Freeman
minor
Also known as Brister
A former slave who lived near Walden Pond and had a small farm.
Zilpha
minor
A former slave woman who lived in a hut near the pond and spun linen.
Wyman
minor
Also known as Wyman the potter, Wyman the younger
A potter who lived in a shanty near the pond and sold pottery.
Cato Ingraham
minor
Also known as Cato
A former slave who lived in a hut near Walden Pond and farmed.
Hermit
minor
A character in a dialogue with the Poet, representing solitude and contemplation.
Mr. Poet
minor
Also known as Poet
A character in a dialogue with the Hermit, representing artistic inspiration.
Old Johnson
minor
An elderly neighbor who visited Thoreau and told stories of the past.
Tom Hyde
minor
A former resident of the woods known for his independence and poverty.
Jack Robinson
minor
A transient worker who helped Thoreau build his house and later moved west.
James Collins
minor
Also known as James
An Irishman whose shanty Thoreau bought and moved for his own house.
Hugh Quoil
minor
A former soldier and drunkard who lived in a shanty near the pond.
Neighbor Seeley
minor
A neighbor who helped Thoreau raise his house frame.