Anti Transcendentalism Similarities

“Each house-hunting trip I’ve made to the countryside has been fraught with two emotions: elation at the prospect of living closer to nature and a sense of absolute doom at what might befall me in the backwoods” (White 1064). In her essay, “Black Women and the Wilderness, Evelyn White describes her contradictory feelings about nature, and throughout her text, her experiences display a very complex perspective of nature. Raymond Williams, in his article, “Nature” describes the word ‘nature’ as the most complex word in language (Williams 219). When referring nature, people generally think of it representing something of peace, comfort, and a place where most can feel safe, almost as if it were a home. White revises our understanding of nature

But in relation to the grand scheme of the story,the setting is much more important in relation to any other element. These events could have taken place in a parking lot, a mall, or any other place where young degenerates wasted time. However, the line, “This was nature.” adds another layer of depth to the setting due to the Narrator’s changed perspective (2). The repetition in this line once the Narrator emerges from the disgusting depths to see the beauty of “the sun firing buds and opening blossoms” and “the birds [who] had begun to take over for the crickets.” This change in perspective represents an adolescent’s realization on poor life decisions and the desire to move forward. The use of nature instead of visuals that are man-made are also important in relation to the story because when the line, “This was nature.” was first used, it was referring to the ugly side of mankind such as sex, drugs, and alcohol.

The movie, The Incredibles, is a Disney film about a family of superheros trying to maintain their secret identities. They try to maintain ordinary, regular lives after the use of superpowers is suddenly banned by the government for the safety of their cities. All was well and fairly normal until their family was directly targeted by a new villain, Buddy Pine (aka. Syndrome). Despite their progress in the area of living normal lives, they’re throw in a series of tough situations that require the whole family to tap into who they truly are. The Incredibles is a fantastic example of transcendentalism due to the presence of both nonconformity and individualism.

Transcendentalism is the belief that man is inherently good, is an independent thinker, and goes out into nature to get in touch with himself. Generally, man has good intentions and intends no harm unto others. In addition, man does not need society to give him and develop his thoughts, as he already has them within. To help bring out these already installed beliefs, man has the desire to go out into nature to get in touch with himself and find deeper notions within. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings “Self Reliance” and “American Scholar”, he writes about how being a true individual means that one must have his own beliefs, and not copy someone else’s ideas. In addition, he believes that society is the antagonist, actively working against individuals.

During the 1830s, an intellectual movement took place called Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism is the idea that an individual is the center of the universe and is more powerful than any institution. This way of thinking was very new to the people during that time. Even though the movement took place well over one hundred years ago, traits of Transcendentalism are still abundant in society today. For example, the movie Wall-E contains many traits of Transcendentalism.

Transcendentalism is present in today’s culture in ways we do not even notice. It is in our music, television, and movies. These parts of today 's culture show free thought, nonconformity, and the role of nature.

Transcendentalists were a movement of this time that had both its ups and downs. In other words failure and successes. When it comes to reform movements the things most people really care about is the success of it and if it made any real change to people during the time period. Transcendentalism had an effect on people of the time that really started something completely unheard of and misunderstood. What transcendentalists did was take what was known and look far beyond it. Through literature, speeches, and even teaches that took place in classrooms of the time, people were fascinated and curious about what they were spreading and practicing. It was a quite successful movement until more and more time passed and people realized it wasn’t

Transcendentalism is about life in which nature and the soul connect. In the movie Dead Poet Society, one of the characters who shows transcendentalism in Neil Perry. In the movie the students quoted poems and had their alone time with nature. They also relied on themselves and sought the spiritual side of things. Throughout the movie, Neil went to a cave away from people. Furthermore, Neil’s friends joined him to have fun with the Dead Poets Society, a group Neil recreated after hearing that his professor, Mr. Keating, had been involved in when he was a student at Welton. Overall, Neil Perry was a great example of transcendentalism throughout the entire movie.

"I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”- Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism is an American philosophy that revolves around self-reliance and independence, commonly in nature, a Transcendentalist wants to find the true meaning in life. I believe that Chris McCandless was a Transcendentalist because he was able to leave his whole life behind and take on a minimalist lifestyle while having a strong relationship with god. However, I believe that I am not a Transcendentalist, but simply an adventurer. I had the opportunity to go to Mexico and visit the Yucatan rainforest and this lead me to be able to explore nature and feel the peaceful impact it can have on someone 's life.

After the American Revolution people were inspired to create their own identity separate from England, some people wanted something different from the traditional Age of Reason. Transcendentalism is a branch of Romanticism that began in Germany, it’s beliefs are separated into three topics nature, individualism, and optimism. They believed nature is where one could reach the highest level of spirituality. Individualism is where they believed in nonconforming and rejecting society’s beliefs. Lastly optimism where beliefs that people are naturally good and they were convinced of the essential goodness of life. The song “Call It What You Want” by Foster The People is a great example of aspects of Transcendentalism, though this song mostly focuses

Though Edgar Allan Poe’s short stories like, The Cask of Amontillado, to his poems like, The Raven, Poe’s shows his writing style to use physical imagery and connotative syntax to show ,imagery in his writing. Throughout his life, Poe had always lived through the most chaotic and evil of time. His parents died while he was 3 years old. After his parents died, he lived with another family member who never accepted him as their own son. Later on in life, Poe had served in the military and at that point he started writing poems. After Poe was honorably discharged from the military, he married his 12 year old cousin who died shortly of tuberculosis. These events heavily contributed to his writing style by giving events to base stories as well as a viewpoint on the world. Overall, Edgar Allan Poe’s twisted and ominous writing style focuses on using physical imagery and connotative syntax to show imagery.

The conceptualization of a better world has always plagued the mind of our species. However, this notion comes with the realization that mankind is and has always been cruel and terrifying, even to each other. Although some people tend to believe that they live in a perfect society, most people have never really explored the dark side of themselves until analyzing the works of Edgar Allen Poe. Both Nathaniel Hawthorne and Poe established themselves as anti-transcendentalists through their spine-chilling literature of horror, giving us the basis to what is today’s horror. They showed us what cruel animals humans can truly be. Through understanding the Transcendentalist movement, and how Poe established himself as an anti-transcendentalist, we

Nature is easily projected onto, as it allows for a sense of peacefulness and escapism. Due to its ability to evoke an emotional reaction from the masses, many writers have glorified it through various methods, including describing its endless beauty and utilizing it as a symbol for spirituality. Along with authors, artists also show great respect and admiration for nature through paintings of grandiose landscapes. These tributes disseminate a fixed interpretation of the natural world, one full of meaning and other worldly connections. In “Against Nature,” Joyce Carol Oates strips away this guise given to the environment and replaces it with a harsher reality. To her, it is superficial and only has overlying positive associations because humans

The Transcendentalists believed in a Universal Being that existed in nature. When Emerson is in nature, it consumes him: “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God” (Emerson 3). In Emerson’s mind, nature offers perpetual youth and joy, and counteracts whatever misfortune befalls an individual. The visionary man may lose himself in it, may become a receptive "transparent eyeball" through which the Universal Being transmits itself into his consciousness and makes him sense his oneness with God. Though Hawthorne believed in the same Universal Being, but in Hawthorne’s mind the Being was dark and mysterious, and lingered in the supernatural shadows. Hawthorne could not decipher if the Being was there to harm or help humanity. Again, in “Young Goodman Brown”, Hawthorne describes the Being’s impact on nature: “The whole forest was peopled with frightful sounds--the creaking of the trees, the howling of wild beasts, and the yell of Indians; while sometimes the wind tolled like a distant church bell… as if all Nature were laughing him to scorn. But he was himself the chief horror of the scene, and shrank not from its other horrors” (Hawthorne 4). Hawthorne not only describes the being, but also lampoons/mocks Emerson’s view of Transcendentalism with the phrase

Nature is a beautiful component of planet earth which most of us are fortunate to experience; Ralph Waldo Emerson writes about his passion towards the great outdoors in a passage called Nature. Emerson employs metaphors and analogies to portray his emotions towards nature. Emerson begins by writing, “Our age is retrospective. It builds the sepulchres of the fathers.” , this is a metaphor for how we think; all our knowledge is based on what is recorded in the olden days and a majority of our experiences are vicarious instead of firsthand encounters. Additionally, Emerson says, “why should we grope among the dry bones of the past, or put the living generation into masquerade out of its faded wardrobe?” This metaphor portrays how people hide