Thoreau explains that it is up to each person to take care of themselves and define their own soul. He had thought about becoming a vegetarian based on pure instinct and without understanding the health risks that came with it. He based his idea on his philosophies that they were to live a simple life and have non-animalistic tendencies. He believed that by becoming a vegetarian it was easier to achieve this, and thanks to his findings he felt fuller. “We are all sculptors and painters and our material is our flesh, our blood and our bones. Any nobility immediately begins to refine a man's features, and meanness or sensuality to make them ugly” (Higher Laws 180). The conclusion of the novel is moving and helps to understand why he chose to live this lifestyle. “It is life close to the bones where it is sweetest” (Conclusion 267). He was trying to get away from everyday life and live a simple life. It is enriching for the soul and you will learn much more about yourself, nature and higher powers. He feels that he is a changed man and that he will live his life more open to new experiences and that he will be able to promote this transcendentalism to others through his