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Examples Of Transcendentalism In Civil Disobedience

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Thoreau and Emerson wrote the short stories Civil Disobedience and Nature and both if these show big transcendentalism ideas. The story Civil Disobedience mainly focuses on how the author does not think he should pay taxes for things he doesn’t support. We see Thoreau talk about how people should be allowed to refuse the government and that they should govern less. Thoreau also says that people should not support unjust laws and work harder towards ending something they don’t agree with. The short story Nature is about how being in nature affects you and makes you a better person. 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. …show more content…

This is because it has characteristics showing intuition and non conformity. The author shows intuition by refusing to pay for a tax that he does not believe in. When Thoreau says “It is for no particular item in the tax bill that I refuse to pay it” (Thoreau 2) he is demonstrating that he does not have to follow things that he is against. The author also shows how he practices non conformity. When Thoreau says “All men recognize the right of revolution: that is, the right to refuse allegiance to, and to resist, the government” he is showing non conformity by not paying for taxes that he doesn't think are right. This story is a good representation of transcendentalism because of its focus on intuition and not conforming to things you don’t believe

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