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Every month, I send out excerpts from Thoreau's Journal to an e-mail list. If you wish to subscribe to the monthly digest,

The Themes: The themes of Steinbeck's story are those that go beyond the moral that might have been heard by Mexican villagers as they listened to it. Teachers can ask students to think about the message this story might give to ignorant, poverty-stricken people and discuss the irony in this message. Students can be led to an understanding of this irony as they deal with questions such as: What message might poor villagers who cannot read hear from this story as it is told? What effect does the message they hear have on their lives? Steinbeck's themes show the irony of the simple message heard by poor villagers: wealth (money) brings evil. Of course, this message also may be considered as one of the themes of Steinbeck's novella. However, students might be able to identify more hidden themes: ignorance leads to subjugation and oppression; things (and people) are not always what they seem; goodness is not always the result of learning; evil can be found in many forms; at times the people and institutions we most respect are the embodiment of evil-including those that preach against it or claim to heal it.

The overarching theme for all that follows could be summed up thus: go beyond discussion; do what Thoreau did; react and respond in the moment; then compare your responses to his. Through such means, you may start a conversation with Thoreau that crosses centuries.

- Thoreau was an intellectual who could work with his hands.

- He was a writer.

"... in the distant woods or fields, in unpretending sprout-lands or pastures tracked by rabbits, even in a bleak and, to most, cheerless day, like this, when a villager would be thinking of his inn, I come to myself, I once more feel myself grandly related, and that cold and solitude are friends of mine. I suppose that this value, in my case, is equivalent to what others get by churchgoing and prayer.

1. How can one find truth and, specifically, the meaning of life? Can you find it by reasoning? How would you define "reason"? 2. What is the relationship between these two words: "religion" and "spirituality"? Are they the same? 3. If you belive in God, how do you understand the problem of salvation? How does one find God? How is one to be "saved"? How does one find a place in Heaven? 4. Have you ever had a "religious experience"? Where and when? 5. How would you describe your own personal relationship to nature? 6. Do you support the current environment movement? If so, why?

A SELECTION OF THOREAU QUOTATIONS (FOR REFLECTION & THE JOURNAL)

What is religion? That which is never spoken.