Comparison Of Transcendentalism In Emerson And Nathaniel Hawthorne

Henry David Thoreau is one of the most influential, and most brilliant people to ever walk on the face of the earth. He embodies the transcendentalist ideas that many of the most famous writers in the world share. Transcendentalism is the philosophy of looking at every person as an individual and how important and divine each soul truly is. The way that the world in the middle 1800’s, the time in which Thoreau was in his prime for writing, was that a person learned from his encounters and how that individual reacted to it. Transcendentalists believed in the spirituality of the world in order learn new things: “They rejected the widely accepted notion that man’s knowledge came primarily through the senses. To the contrary, they believed in

Henry David Thoreau is known as one of the most relevant transcendentalist authors in America, not only thanks to his work as an author but also his ideology and activism as a normal individual. His transcendentalist way of both thinking and living was not only influenced by the fact that he lived in Concord, the cradle of transcendentalism in the US, but also by being in close touch with other great transcendentalists such as Bronson Alcott or Ralph Waldo Emerson. The latter one was probably the most influential on Thoreau’s development as a true transcendentalist, since Thoreau actually put into practice Emerson’s thought that in order to get to know who oneself truly is, you have to focus on Nature and devote yourself to it; and he captured his experience in the wonderfully descriptive and spiritual book Walden.

I consider myself to be a transcendentalist, after reading the stories. I try to see the positive in every situation, and I don’t try to conform to society, and have respect for nature. A anti- transcendentalist is very negative and often needs proof in order for things to be true. In the story Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson he talks about the beauty of nature, he says that “nature never wears a mean appearance,” implying that nature is good and you will have to rely on it. An example of an anti- transcendentalist is someone who doesn 't see the positive and that is shown in The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe. In this story the narrator thinks the raven coming to his window is the devil and he yelled “thing of evil!- prophet still, if bird or

Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) was born and lived nearly all his life in Concord, Massachusetts, a small town about twenty miles west of Boston. He received his education at the public school in Concord and at the private Concord Academy. Proving to be a better scholar than his more fun-loving and popular elder brother John, he was sent to Harvard. He did well there and, despite having to drop out for several months for financial and health reasons, was graduated in the top half of his class in 1837.

The ideals and structures of the society we live in today clearly contrast with the core ideals of Henry David Thoreau. We rely on seemingly everything but ourselves for information, and we have trampled upon the nature that was so valued by Thoreau. Our rapid technological advancements have improved our lives in countless ways, but many elements of our digital technology would surely garner shame from a dedicated transcendentalist like Thoreau. Furthermore, the citizens of America have allowed for an elected government that Thoreau would believe has grown too powerful and possesses excessive influence over our lives. If Thoreau lived in today’s society, he would be aghast at the abuse of the environment due to industrialization,

self reliance in my eyes. If you would go and live in the wild your would have to be

Transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that occurred by the mid-1800s. Transcendentalism was a result of the American pride in an emerging culture. This philosophical beliefs, which Ralph Waldo Emerson led, portrayed all the American values of hope, freedom, and independence. Transcendentalism was an optimistic movement that encourage spirituality and inner happiness over material fortunes and financial gain. They also believed in the inner goodness of humanity. Transcendentalism took an individualistic approach that stressed that people ought to be self-reliant and that truth can be found intuitively. This perspective can be seen in one of Emerson’s essays entitled Self-Reliance. This movement emphasized living a simple life and having a oneness with nature. The movement influenced many great American

Transcendentalism is one of the most influential fundamentals of man-kind. Transcendentalism is the enjoyment of nature, surpassing yourself to find a greater purpose, and connecting with the Oversoul. In the movie Dead Poet’s Society, one of the professors believed education was meant for teaching people to think for themselves; he believed that if you can’t think for yourself, then you’re not truly living your life, you’re living someone else’s. The man in question was English Professor John Keating. Keating was a true free thinker, he pushed his students to think for themselves. In addition to his progressive nature, Keating did not have an issue defying against authority figures; when he felt he wasn’t able to be his true self, he said what he believed and didn’t let anybody halt or sway him. Lastly, Keating treasured nature and being in the outdoors. Because of his numerous open-minded qualities, it is apparent that Professor Keating, or “Captain” as his students chose to call him, was a tremendously transcendental character.

During the 17th century, the Puritans crossed the sea to grace America with their presence. In an astounding example of foreshadowing, the Puritans set up a patriarchal, semi-authoritarian society based on strangely unforgiving laws interpreted from the Holy Bible. Generations later, Nathaniel Hawthorne is raised in a post-Salem witch trial society amongst Puritans. Hawthorne is devout; however, the unjustifiable actions of his ancestors disturbs him. Hawthorne grew to have deep criticisms of Puritan society, and this became evident in his works. Hawthorne's strongest criticisms of Puritan society show themselves in "Young Goodman Brown," "The Minister's Black Veil," and The Scarlet Letter.

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.

In Hawthorne 's essay “Young Goodman Brown”, does it matter whether or not the protagonist, Goodman

If there is one person in the past or present that lived a truly transcendental life, many would say it was Alexander Supertramp, otherwise known as Chris McCandless. Throughout the 1990s, this man took transcendentalism to a new level that not many people in this day and age had seen before. In different points in his life, he exhibited all 8 of the main keys of transcendentalism. This paper will touch on just three of those, starting with reducing dependence on property. This is probably the number one key that is seen the most from McCandless in Into The Wild.

What is transcendentalism? It is a very fancy word for a very simple idea. Transcendentalism is a philosophy where a person’s reality is built off intuition instead of logic. Transcendentalists live their lives with as few materialistic items as possible and block out what society describes as acceptable for what a human should do with their life. Their intuitive knowledge “Transcends” or goes beyond their five senses. Transcendentalists’ dive into art and nature in order to figure out their purpose on Earth.

Transcendentalism has been around since the mid-1800’s. It is a philosophical belief which introduced a new way understanding truth and knowledge. According to the transcendentalists, if knowledge could be found, it would derive from our intuition and contemplation of the internal soul and spirit, rather than relying on data from scientific evidence. Henry David Thoreau demonstrated his goal of self search and getting back in tune with nature by living in a self-built cabin for 2 years at Walden Pond. He arrived the knowledge of himself through reconnecting with nature. Our senior project is a near replication of Thoreau’s process to reach self knowledge. Instead of building a cabin in the woods, we decided documented our adventure through film to evidence our experience of reconnection to nature to serve as a medium for meditation to reach self enlightenment.

In his essay, Visible Sanctity and Specter Evidence, Michael J. Colacurcio illustrates how Hawthorne’s work reveals how “the Calvinist doctrine of election looks very much like the traditional sin of presumption” (393). The fact that Calvinist epistemology resembles the sin of presumption indicates that the notion of absolute certainty in of itself produces uncertainty. The first generation of Puritans, and those who followed, presumed they were God’s chosen people, yet in the same vein, they assert that God’s grace is not certain. Uncertainty then leads to a search for certainty; in certainty’s absence, there arises the path to the unpardonable sin, for there is no certainty without a singular, clear meaning to everything in the world. The