# The Crab explained — Essays

> Chapter companion for Essays by Henry David Thoreau.

## What happens

Thoreau reflects on the wild crab-apple (Malus coronaria), a native American tree whose nature has not been modified by cultivation. He describes its appearance, fragrance, and uses, recounts his long-standing curiosity about it, and narrates his eventual encounter with it in Minnesota in 1861, where he finally touches and smells the tree.

## Themes in this chapter

### Nature and Simplicity

Thoreau celebrates the wild, uncultivated crab-apple as a symbol of native nature and simplicity.

## Character check-ins

### Henry David Thoreau

Narrator and observer, recounts his personal quest to find the wild crab-apple.

### Michaux

Botanist whose description of the crab-apple inspired Thoreau's interest.

## Key lines

> Nevertheless, our wild apple is wild only like myself, perchance, who belong not to the aboriginal race here, but have strayed into the woods from the cultivated stock.

Thoreau compares himself to the wild apple, suggesting he is not native but has wandered into the wilderness from a cultivated background.

_Thoreau draws a parallel between his own identity and the wild apple's untamed nature._

> At last I had occasion to go to Minnesota, and on entering Michigan I began to notice from the cars a tree with handsome rose-colored flowers. At first I thought it some variety of thorn; but it was not long before the truth flashed on me, that this was my long-sought crab-apple.

While traveling to Minnesota by train, Thoreau spots a tree with rose-colored flowers and realizes it is the crab-apple he had been seeking.

_Thoreau describes the moment of recognition during his journey._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se/chapters/the-crab
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/essays_2_se/chapters