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Thoreau wants our lives to be simplified. He claims that we gain less from life when we over-complicate things.
Thoreau was all about simplicity; anything that took away from his vision was the enemy. Mechanical aids were one of them. Guess he had to train a...
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SAT Reading: Why Does Thoreau Use the Phrase "Mechanical Aids" in this Passage? 58 Views
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Description:
Thoreau was all about simplicity; anything that took away from his vision was the enemy. Mechanical aids were one of them. Guess he had to train a squirrel to scratch his back.
Transcript
- 00:02
we're gonna read the rose passage here but guess what we're only gonna skim the
- 00:06
first paragraph I wasn't really having handled anything honest leading backing
- 00:11
with no billing endeavors on me let me picture a new employee that was the [man rapidly reading passage]
- 00:13
first paragraph so now we're cruising down here to the question and it asks
- 00:17
the rogue uses the phrase mechanical aids in prepare rapid passage by cables
Full Transcript
- 00:20
or no electric charge all right well here the correct answer is C introduce [man boxing]
- 00:25
the conflict between modern convenience in simple living so it's just the
- 00:29
introduced conflict don't get all uptight some people don't need an alarm
- 00:32
clock to wake up because well if they have 12 cats hi Todd who all expect [kittens crawling on womans bed while she sleeps]
- 00:36
breakfast at 5:00 a.m. well our pal Thoreau isn't literally
- 00:39
talking about using something mechanical like an alarm clock to wake up in the
- 00:43
morning though the most obvious clue well it's all the figurative language [Thoreau looking through magnifying glass]
- 00:46
that follows like infinite expectation of the dawn paint the very atmosphere
- 00:51
all right well this first paragraph sirs is an introduction if the Rose claimed
- 00:55
that people should live simply and deliberately he primarily talks about
- 00:59
how great it is to elevate life by a conscious endeavor but he sneaks in the
- 01:04
mention of forsaking mechanical aids in order to set up the conflict between
- 01:08
simple living and its primary enemy modern convenience over those modern
- 01:13
conveniences yeah the row obviously doesn't think people need mechanical [thoreau holding an iPhone]
- 01:16
aids but there's nothing in the first paragraph that's specifically down on
- 01:20
modern convenience Oh get rid of a he saves all his negativity for later to
- 01:24
start off with while he's really excited about elevating his life also other than [Thoreau waiting in an elevator]
- 01:29
suggesting that they might force to take up soon or sound asleep yeah maybe his
- 01:33
alarm clock broke and he missed out on the class camping trip what do you think
- 01:37
well the first paragraph isn't really about eating on modern convenience all
- 01:41
the figurative language in the first paragraphs good clue that he's not [sun rises over city skyline]
- 01:44
talking literally about methods of waking up in the morning
- 01:47
you got enough that with our snoring cats here [cats snoring in bed]
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