One day, when my axe had come off and I had cut a green hickory for a wedge, driving it with a stone, and had placed the whole to soak in a pond hole in order to swell the wood, I saw a striped snake run into the water, and he lay on the bottom,
apparently without inconvenience, as long as I stayed there, or more than a quarter of an hour; perhaps because he had not
yet fairly come out of the torpid state. It appeared me that for a like reason men remain in their present low and primitive
condition; but if they should feel the influence of the spring of springs arousing them, they would of necessity rise to a higher
and more ethereal life. I had previously seen the snakes in frosty mornings in my path with portions of their bodies still numb
and inflexible, waiting for the sun to thaw them.
Given how Thoreau compares the striped snake's behavior to how men behave, what can be inferred about Thoreau's opinion
concerning how men live?
A)
B)
Thoreau believes that men need to conserve energy all winter long to be
ready for the spring
Thoreau believes that men have very difficult lives of pain and misery that
they cannot easily escape.
Thoreau believes that most men are happiest when they have relaxing
lives without much stress or worry
Thoreau believes that most men live earthly, purely physical lives without
time for higher, spiritual thoughts.
D)