Would Walden Have Been a Better Book if Thoreau Had Supplied More Background Information on His Life?

The following is an essay for my English 1 course.

Enjoy!
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     Henry Thoreau spent 26 months of his life living in a shack, next to a pond, doing just about nothing, a mile and a half from Concord. Afterward, he wrote a book about it. I don't have to make a stretch to say that it was a quite disappointing. Thoreau is revered in my day as intelligent, keen, wise, and even as a good writer, but I see none of these attributes in his book, 'Walden'.
     What did he do before Walden? I'm not sure. Thoreau didn't exactly provide copious amounts of information on his life prior to living at Walden pond. Would the book have been better if he supplied more? I don't know. I really don't think so. It might have made it more interesting, but it sure wouldn't lessen his absurd theories later in the book, or make us not notice them. It would have been interesting to see what he was like before Walden, sure, but I don't think much could be done to make this book better -- it's beyond help in my eyes.
     He did give a bit of background information; he had been a schoolteacher, he lived with his mother, he never liked commerce, and he worked 6 weeks a year. It's not a lot, but it was sufficient for the story. Of course, he never went into detail. He didn't say why he lived with his mother. He never described why, 'trade curses everything.' We could only understand why it was possible to survive on $40 per year because we knew that he lived with his mom! More information expounding on the already existing information would have been quite helpful.
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-- RPCStuden1414