Thoreau

I had/have an extremely challenging time trying to figure out what Thoreau is talking about in his piece, "Where i Lived, and What i Live for." I believe he's talking about living simply and living for oneself. He uses repetition of the word "simplify" and "simplicity," to get his point across in the second paragraph. Thoreau also uses long extended sentences with many comas. I think he uses this technique to show the invalue of life when we go for quantity not quality. He makes a point of saying we don't need a million objects but "only half a dozen."
i went to the woods because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life and see if i could not learn what i had to teach, and not, when i came to die, to discover that i had not lived. - in teh woods is "real life" and everything else is "not life." a way for him to not focus on "petty" and unessential parts to life. Woods allows you to strip off modern and unnecessary parts of life. antithesis in "...and to see...." to the end. other stuff in life outside of woods is frivolous.
from begining of time life has had meaning so wants to return to roots of humanity (spartans).
live meanly = lives cramped and useless and unhappy