Character guide

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.