Reread passages from “Society and Solitude” and Walden. Then answer the multiple-choice question that follows.

From “Society and Solitude” by Ralph Waldo Emerson
7 Society we must have; but let it be society, and not exchanging news, or eating from the same dish. Is it society to sit in one of your chairs? I cannot go into the houses of my nearest relatives, because I do not wish to be alone. Society exists by chemical affinity, and not otherwise.

8 Put any company of people together with freedom for conversation, and a rapid self-distribution takes place, into sets and pairs. The best are accused of exclusiveness. It would be more true to say, they separate as oil from water, as children from old people, without love or hatred in the matter, each seeking his like; and any interference with the affinities would produce constraint and suffocation. All conversation is a magnetic experiment. I know that my friend can talk eloquently; you know that he cannot articulate a sentence: we have seen him in different company. Assort your party, or invite none. Put Stubbs and Coleridge, Quintilian and Aunt Miriam, into pairs, and you make them all wretched. ‘Tis an extempore Sing-Sing built in a parlor. Leave them to seek their own mates, and they will be as merry as sparrows.

9 A higher civility will re-establish in our customs a certain reverence which we have lost. What to do with these brisk young men who break through all fences, and make themselves at home in every house? I find out in an instant if my companion does not want me, and ropes cannot hold me when my welcome is gone. One would think that the affinities would pronounce themselves with a surer reciprocity.
From Walden by Henry David Thoreau
3 Why should we live with such hurry and waste of life? We are determined to be starved before we are hungry. Men say that a stitch in time saves nine, and so they take a thousand stitches today to save nine tomorrow. As for work, we haven’t any of any consequence. We have the Saint Vitus’ dance, and cannot possibly keep our heads still. If I should only give a few pulls at the parish bell-rope, as for a fire, that is, without setting the bell, there is hardly a man on his farm in the outskirts of Concord, notwithstanding that press of engagements which was his excuse so many times this morning, nor a boy, nor a woman, I might almost say, but would forsake all and follow that sound, not mainly to save property from the flames, but, if we will confess the truth, much more to see it burn, since burn it must, and we, be it known, did not set it on fire—or to see it put out, and have a hand in it, if that is done as handsomely; yes, even if it were the parish church itself. Hardly a man takes a half-hour’s nap after dinner, but when he wakes he holds up his head and asks, “What’s the news?” as if the rest of mankind had stood his sentinels. Some give directions to be waked every half-hour, doubtless for no other purpose; and then, to pay for it, they tell what they have dreamed. After a night’s sleep the news is as indispensable as the breakfast. “Pray tell me anything new that has happened to a man anywhere on this globe”—and he reads it over his coffee and rolls, that a man has had his eyes gouged out this morning on the Wachito River; never dreaming the while that he lives in the dark unfathomed mammoth cave of this world, and has but the rudiment of an eye himself.
How do the authors’ views on society differ from one another?

Answer choices for the above question

A. Emerson believes that interacting with society makes people happy; Thoreau believes that interacting in society diminishes one’s intellect.

B. Emerson believes that society is beneficial as long as people interact with others who are well-matched; Thoreau believes that far too many people participate mindlessly in society.

C. Emerson believes that participation in society allows people to broaden their own viewpoints; Thoreau believes participation in society is a waste of time.

D. Emerson believes that it is important to be a part of society to stay informed on the news; Thoreau believes learning the news is not important.
How does each author use reasoning to back up his claim?

Answer choices for the above question

A. Emerson appeals to people’s logic to support his claim; Thoreau presents a fearful scenario to support his claim.

B. Emerson uses scientific reasoning to support his claim; Thoreau appeals to people’s emotions to support his claim.

C. Emerson shares his own personal experiences to support his claim; Thoreau uses anecdotes from people he knows to support his claim.

D. Emerson uses a familiar example to support his claim; Thoreau presents several descriptive scenes to support his claim.