In Thoreau’s book Walden, Thoreau has come to the same conclusion about society as Huck Finn has. He states that he wishes “to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life” and the only way for him to do this was in nature, away from society (Thoreau 1). Just like Huck, Thoreau concludes that society is just a massacre waiting to happen and everyone is always fighting about something. While living in the woods, he witnesses a battle between two groups of ants. He writes, “I observed two large ants, the one red, the other much larger . . .black, and fiercely contending with one another. Having once got hold they never let go, but struggled and wrestled and rolled on the chips incessantly. Looking farther, I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants, that it was not a [duel], but a [war], a war between two races” (Thoreau 2). He uses this battle to make a comparison to the society we live in by saying, “I was myself excited somewhat even as if they had been men. The more you think of it, the less the difference” (Thoreau 2). Thoreau realizes that he cannot escape conflict, even in the depths of the woods. He asserts that revolution is a battle of society versus the individual as he illustrates in his writing about the herd of ants fighting each other.
Another character who struggles with a conflict between the individual and society is Holden Caulfield: