Thoreau as a Prophet 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 life as he did. Men of those days worked hard for everything