In Self-Reliance, he talks about how people benefit from their hard work and enjoy it a lot more when they don’t accept help. Emerson is very straight forward with his opinion but does not try to blantely offend the audience like Thoreau does. He gives his audience an option to think about what he has said, rather than force it down their throats. Also, in Self-Reliance, he talks about how being different and misunderstood can be a good thing at times because many past geniuses were. Emerson gives examples to support his opinions and tries to convince the audience rather than trying to force the audience to see things from one viewpoint.
The ideas behind Transcendentalism have been shown to have had many negative effects on the mental health of the individual, the physical health of the individual, and the idea of government overthrow. To begin, a
The authors main point is that when you are in nature it blocks out any outside influence and allows you to think for yourself. Being alone for Emerson allowed for him to feel different and be at one with his surroundings. Thoreau’s short story, “Civil Disobedience” and Emerson’s short story “Nature” are examples of Transcendentalism because they include intuition, non conformity, spiritual well being, and individualism.
As Ralph Waldo Emerson, a philosopher who helped lead the transcendental movement, said in his essay Self Reliance, ““...the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plate, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought.” This quote embodies transcendentalism and describes the necessity to be your own person. Chris McCandless is an independent man whose ideology is based off of transcendentalism, but he takes it to an extreme degree to which he believes in. Most people who are tired of society would not take off and live in the wild, but Chris believed in his ideas and stuck to his gut. Another famous transcendentalist is Henry David Thoreau.
Transcendentalism Misinterpreted? Transcendentalism is a philosophy that originated in the early 19th century. Their core belief is that humans are basically good but need to get away from materialism and aim to be more self-reliant. Transcendentalism had a deep impact on Christopher McCandless’s life as seen in the book Into The Wild by Jon Krakauer. Christopher McCandless was especially enthralled by Henry David Thoreau, a famous transcendentalist.
In the beginning of the movie Dead Poets Society, a new English teacher is introduced as Professor John Keating. During his classes, Mr. Keating is shown teaching Transcendentalist and Romanticist ways instead of the more normal way of teaching like the other teachers at Welton Academy practice. Examples of Keating’s different teaching styles include bringing his students outside for different poetry exercises, ripping out pages of their textbook, and influencing the concept of carpe diem, or seize the day. Keating’s way of teaching though, brings up the question of whether or not this brought more grief or more happiness on the students in the movie. Even with some of the terrible outcomes Mr. Keating’s teaching brought, the students of Welton Academy were brought more happiness than grief when acting out their Transcendental and Romantic beliefs.
Throughout the piece, Emerson uses extensive metaphors, making comparisons to things that are important to the audience, which increases their understanding and engages them. To open the third paragraph, Emerson makes this comparison: “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that
The wave move onward, but the water of which it is composed does not”. Society as a whole may be advancing, but the people who make up society are not. This is what Emerson has been arguing about his whole essay; do not lean on the support of society’s greatness, instead, find your own and be a helpful part of a
In Emerson's views, people should “not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”(citation). Based on Emerson’s thoughts, people should not follow the crowd, but instead live their lives and leave their mark on the Earth. Emerson thoughts come from a philosophical movement of the nineteenth century called transcendentalism. Transcendentalism focuses on religious renewal, literary innovation, and social transformation (encyclopedia.com). Because of their belief that God exists in everyone and nature, and that knowledge comes from individual intuition, led to the highlight of individualism, self-reliance, and breaking free from traditions(citation).
In Emerson’s “Self Reliance,” he lived a privileged life in society, but believed you should not blindly follow society and conform to social norms. Emerson is described as a transcendentalist who “believed focusing on the purity and goodness of individualism and community with nature was vital for a strong society.” (“Self Reliance”) Emerson remained in society and encouraged his readers that in order to create a stronger society, members should focus on themselves and follow their own instincts. Chris, also known as Alex, followed these ideas in his own journey in “Into the Wild.”
The theme of the essay “Self Reliance” written by Emerson is for beings to not focus on those of others or subside his/her values to fit in with our society, for true geniuses comes from within and are made with their own heart and mind. His idea of self-reliance differs from that of the norm in that he doesn’t encourage those to mix into selfish ways but to be open and proud of their own individuality for that is the true key to life itself. Emerson’s idea is similar to the common use in that he encourages those to not depend on others to define his/her identity. 2. Emerson’s use of figurative language encourages his readers to view his ideas in a clearer and more emphasized perspective.
Henry David Thoreau is one of the primary promoters of the transcendentalist movement and has been inspiring people to take on the transcendentalist lifestyle ever since the mid 1800’s. Mccandless was an admirer of Henry’s philosophy but he wasn’t as fully immersed in his work and ideals as Thoreau was to his own. His intentions were not as closely aligned to the movement as Thoreau’s and the difference between these icons are clearly visible. Self reliance is one of the most significant components of the transcendentalism movement that Henry David Thoreau contributed to in his literary career. “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.” - (taken from Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden”).
The song “Brave,” by Sara Bareilles strongly relates to this quote by Emerson. Throughout this song there are many lyrics that go along with the Transcendentalism philosophy. For example, when Sara says, “You can be amazing… you can be the outcast… or you can start speaking up.” This relates back to Transcendentalism because they highly believe in being able to be yourself and not let other people bring you down. By being amazing, you need to speak what you believe and not care what society thinks.
7. Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote an essay in 1841 entitled “Self-Reliance” whose content contains advice about individuality and avoiding conforming to societal norms. He encourages readers to follow their own ideas and blaze their own paths. An excerpt from the essay reads “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure”. What he means is that if a person does not follow the accepted way that society deems fit than that person will be rejected as an outcast and will have a harder time even if that means living a less fulfilling life.
Reflection By studying American Romanticism, we are able to learn that American literature allows its readers to understand transcendentalist views which led to individuals in American society to realize that everyone perceives the world differently. In American literature, individuals are able to understand the values of transcendentalism in which it illustrates the importance of nature, self reliance, and individuality through essays such as “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays “Nature” and “Self-Reliance”. In Henry David Thoreau’s essay “Walden” he says “ life never the bone where it is sweetest.” This quote suggests the importance of individuality due to the fact that we do not need to change to make others satisfied because we are only truly happy when we are able to accept ourselves. The best part in this unit was to look at an image and listen to the different
