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Essay On Transcendentalism

377 Words2 Pages

Transcendentalism is a common theme among many literary works. Many authors who are also transcendentalists integrate their beliefs into their work. Transcendentalism expresses the belief that the individual should be “self-reliant”. It's the idea that people should be themselves, and stand up for themselves and what they believe in. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, John Krakauer, and Michael Donovan have expressed these ideas of transcendentalism and many others in their work. Michael Donovan's poem “It's All-On-Me” is very similar to “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson. Both pieces express ideas about being independent and expressing yourself. The first line of Donovan's poem says, “It's all-on-me …. therefore falls-onto-me, …”. He is stating that everything is his responsibility. He must rise to the occasion and make things happen himself and be “self-reliant”, the title of Emerson's Work. Later on it states “Stand-tall to see ‘em; don't try to deny all those goals saved-up & stored in the shed -- in my stead”. This shows his belief in standing up for what you believe in and not being afraid to be yourself, much like the line from Emerson's writing that says, “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his …show more content…

The main character, Chris McCandless, walks away from everything, his family, home, and career, just to go to Alaska to live in the wild and be on his own. He gives up most modern-day pleasures and doesn't accept many things from people along his way to Alaska, showing that he is independent and standing up for himself, much like Donovan's poem. Thoreau also expresses the idea of standing up for yourself and what you believe in. In his work “Civil Disobedience”, he says, “Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, …”. Again, a perfect examples of the transcendentalist idea of standing up for what you

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