Walden, Part 7 summary

Part 7 of 19 · 16 min to read the part

In The Bean Field, the narrator describes raising beans, records his expenses and profit, and finds companionship, history, and pleasure in fieldwork. His account becomes an argument that people should cultivate moral qualities rather than merely crops, and that farmers should value nature beyond the produce they can sell or keep.

What happens

The narrator grows attached to his beans, recalls visiting the same landscape as a child, and finds evidence of earlier cultivators.
He hoes mostly by hand, hears travelers judge his methods, and enjoys birds, uncovered objects, and the sounds of his work.
Distant military celebrations reach the field, prompting mocking comparisons and a brief description of music stirring warlike feelings.
He describes harvesting twelve bushels of beans, records a cash profit of a sum of money½, and offers practical advice about cultivation.
He contrasts repeated crop planting with neglected moral growth and admits that his own attempt to cultivate virtues produces no growth.
He criticizes farming driven by greed and urges farmers to accept nature’s wider purposes without claiming every product for themselves.