Jon Krakauer's Theory Of Transcendentalism

Is Transcendentalism a good or bad thing? Everyday in life people come across traits of transcendentalism and don 't even realize it, it can be as easy as looking at the trees or doing something else than what everyone else is doing. These are all examples of transcendentalism and people don 't even realize it. For example my family and I went to San Francisco and went to the Redwoods where respect for nature was so strong because I was amazed at how cool the trees were and how long they have been there.

American currencies, specifically coins, have two sides: a head and a tail. The head and tail are different, yet they are still part of the same coin. Two American authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Nathaniel Hawthorne, represent two sides of the same coin: Transcendentalism. Transcendentalism swept through America as a new worldview in the 1900’s. Transcendentalism is a philosophy that asserts the primacy of the spiritual and transcendental over the material, that deals with aspects of nature.

Dead poet’s society was filmed through the eyes of transcendentalism using Emerson’s philosophy, as seen in walden. The film deals with a group of young men who attend a very strict boarding school and the english teacher who gives them a new perspective on everything, the damaging effects of conformity, beautiful sense of nature, and emphasis of simplicity and individuality are shown in many elements throughout Dead Poet’s Society and are ultimately highlighted by emerson and thoreau’s philosophies, making the overall concept of transcendentalism understood. It shows this philosophy very well through the death of Neil Perry, opening of students, and Mr. Keating as the voice of transcendentalism. Main character of the film Neil Perry, an overachieving, good natured young man who is unwillingly committed to become a doctor due to his very strict father.

The United States, it is often thought, was born in rebellion. This is the story reinforced by the Declaration of Independence, and it’s the story promoted by the first elected officials of this country. America has been a nation of protestors -- be it protest against Britain, “savages,” heathens, police, abortion, racism, or taxes -- since its inception. According to the early 19th century Transcendentalists, however, the greatest battle before Americans is the battle for one’s very soul. Dean Grodzins is a Harvard-educated historian, and a visiting scholar at the Massachusetts Historical Society specializing in mid-19th century American history.

Walt Whitman was an American poet, essayist, and journalist. His works mainly focus on the idea of Transcendentalism. In three of his works, “A Noiseless Patient Spider,” “Who Learns My Lesson Complete,” and “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer,” he portrays emotion through nature and the common man. He believed that all people should be able to have their own opinions on every situation. His work reveals how the human soul and Transcendentalism can be better understood through nature.

Acceptance and originality are keys to prosperity. In the novel O Pioneers! by Willa Cather, the protagonist Alexandra thrives in what seems to be a hopeless situation due to her strong beliefs. Alexandra has the beliefs of a transcendentalist. Transcendentalists rely on intuition.

Transcendentalism was an era of Philosophical and religious and literary movement in the nineteenth century in England. The transcendentalism theme was started back in the nineteenth century an still carrys into todays every day life in books,songs and movies. One of the transcendentalist themes that they focused on was individuality. This theme focuses on being yourself and being confident in yourself. Some of the people still using the this transcendentalism theme are Caskey with the song “Tats on my neck”,”Mr.misunderstood” by Eric church and the movie Simon burch.

Ever since its creation, the United States of America has given people the opportunity to speak and practice their own philosophies and religion. As a prime example, transcendentalism is a philosophical and literary movement that gained followers during 1836-1860 that encouraged social reform, self-transformation, and people to rise above their immediate experiences. Developed by Ralph Waldo Emerson and lived by Henry David Thoreau, the essence of transcendentalism was to live life with simplicity and to elevate intuition and imagination over logical reasoning. However in today’s society, true transcendentalism is irrelevant and cannot be practiced.

Albert Einstein once stated, “Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.” I remember that quote from Jeopardy, but I never actually thought of anything of it. The category was transcendentalism and I remembered that pretty clearly because Alex Trebek was complaining about how long the word was to fit in the box. So when transcendentalism was introduced in our class, I felt a familiar wave of nostalgia hit me. I was pretty excited to start my essay, but I didn’t have time on the weekdays, so I decided to work on it during the weekend.

MOBY DICK AND SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY Moby Dick is a revenge tale about the revengeful quest of a wounded man for the powerful force of nature; Moby Dick; and the perishing memories of the questors and the wounded questor into the deep perils of the sea, who engulfs all; leaving one as the sole survivor and witness to unveil and unfold the awful revenge tragedy of stubbornness that outlived the American imagination. Richard Chase in his book describes Moby dick as “the most startling and characteristic products of American imagination. ( Gayatri N 2014 :244) Herman Melville felt that American literature could acquire new depth and dimension by achieving a Shakespearean quality in their literature. Shakespeare’s tragic heroes are often the

Marisa Pope Professor Elizabeth Threatt English 231 17 April 2016 Title In “Walden”, Henry David Thoreau illuminates how society structures people’s lives and their actions. Within his works, Thoreau discusses how people should live their own lives and quit conforming to what society idealizes as the proper ways to do things. Thoreau is a very unique individual who cares nothing about what society thinks or feels about him.