Jerry Petercuskie Thoreau was a simple man that believed in having only the basic necessities in life. Thoreau lived a life of simplicity at Walden Pond. In Walden, Thoreau gives a background of his life and some life experiences that he has encountered. Thoreau also explains that the four necessities in life are food, shelter, clothing, and fuel. Thoreau was a prophet of the twentieth-century regarding the issue of materialism. In Thoreau's days there were people who lived in luxury and people that lived with just the essentials of li ....