Similarities Between Emerson And Henry David Thoreau

Will Hightower

Monday, January 26, 2022

Ms. Green

English 2HP-G In the 1830s, the philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau governed Massachusetts society and American society similarly. Emerson believed in nature and the natural ability to find oneself through man’s own condition whereas Thoreau preached the idea of simplicity as it relates to the restructuring of society. Although some of their principles differ, many of their ideologies overlap fundamentally, and they share similarities in examples they would agree on as well as disagree on for Woodward Academy. Because Emerson largely believed in the idea of finding one's happiness through a personal journey, he along with Thoreau would agree with Woodward’s inclusivity

When I became a student at Woodward, I seemingly grew out of touch with reality at how elite many of the private schools are in terms of education and materialism. As an avid nature lover, Emerson would critique Woodward’s reliance on technology for grades, assignments, and assistance. Emerson believes that the human soul is one of “a transparent eye-ball; all the currents of the Universal Being circulate through [it]” (Emerson, Nature 117). Emerson’s metaphor here relates the human imagination and nature; when man comes in contact with nature, he sees things that were once hidden. The reliance on technology in school takes this opportunity away from the students. Furthering the material nature of Woodward students, from a quick glance at the student parking, jewelry of students, and their other luxuries, it is easy to notice that Woodward students value many unnecessary luxuries, and thus in the eyes of Emerson and Thoreau, miss out on the mysterious wonders of nature. Living out of a cabin in Concord, Massachusetts, Thoreau preached that people should not trouble themselves “much to get new things, whether clothes or friends” (Walden, 138). Thoreau believes that materialistic luxuries draw the attention of people from the simplicities of life; he valued simplicity over all other values. In Thoreau’s eyes, simplicity meant freedom from all forms of stress. While the student body of Woodward seems to be far from simple, the hierarchy of student to administration is one that resembles many of the same properties of a government, following this same pattern of straying from simplicity. In Thoreau’s “Civil Disobedience”, he believed that any and all forms of control are in fact a form of government. Thoreau believes that when relating to democracy, the “government is best which