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Similarities Between Thoreau And Self Reliance

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The American Creed expresses many ideals and principles that are clearly cherished by a majority of fellow Americans. Examples of these ever-important standards of the American Creed are evident in both Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson and Walden by Henry David Thoreau. After reading and analyzing both texts, the reader detects obvious examples of independence, equality, diversity, liberty and opportunity. While both stories have their similarities in these topics, the two authors also express contrasting opinions. Liberty is a standard addressed in both Emerson and Thoreau’s writings that is alike in both mens’ perspectives. In Self Reliance, Emerson writes “It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs,” explaining that through his eyes, society cares not about an individual’s ego and prosperity but instead the individual himself. Society is focused on names and customs alike as they are all unique to each person. The similarities are evident in Thoreau’s Walden as well. Thoreau views liberty as all animals roaming the forest and while all the animals are different, they are all treated the same in the eyes of nature. Ideals of liberty are closely compared between the two authors - their common viewpoint on the matter is that you are your own individual and you are free to do whatever you would like as society/natures view of you will never change. Liberty is an important ideal to many Americans because it gives everyone the freedom to live their lives
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In my opinion Henry David Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr. have very similar purposes in their writings. Both author 's are writing to protest unfair laws. But they also have very different audiences. In Civil Disobediance, Thoreau writes how those who break unjust laws should suffer the consequences as a protest to the laws.

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Body Paragraph 1: Topic Sentence (Take Straight From Your Reason 1): Thoreau was extremely against the government being too involved in a person's life. INTRO to 1st Quote: Thoreau believed, “...”. 1st Quote that supports the Topic Sentence: “That government is best which governs least.”

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Mr. Thoreau argues that people should not allow any government to control or atrophy their thoughts or beliefs. Mr. Thoreau was an also remained a devoted abolitionist and has written

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Both Steinbeck and Thoreau clearly advocate their stance against increasing government interference in everyday lives. Steinbeck incorporated the philosophy of

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The main similarity in the writings of Thomas Jefferson and Henry David Thoreau is the idea of revolution against an abusive government. The main difference is the context in which each document was written, the Declaration of Independence as the colonies were rebelling against Great Britain and forming their own government, and Civil Disobedience as criticisms of the government developed within nearly seventy-five years after the signing of the Declaration. Both Jefferson and Thoreau share ideas of revolution, although overthrowing the government is seen in many cases as illegal. Both documents share a common theme of revolution, and both authors believe the best way to move toward a better government is civil disobedience. Jefferson and Thoreau believe that whether it is the struggle for independence or being freed from injustices of the government, civil disobedience and revolution are necessary in order to live in a society based on freedom.

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858 Words | 4 Pages

In the play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail," by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Henry David Thoreau, the protagonist of the play, is shown to advocate self-awareness and making your own decisions based on your own beliefs. As expressed in the maxim, the ideals of transcendentalism and individuality, regardless of society's expectations, is evidently shown in the text. In the play, Henry David Thoreau is thrown in jail for one night because he refuses to pay taxes that support the Mexican-American War. Although it was considered an American duty to pay taxes to support the country's decisions, Thoreau did not believe that the Mexican-American War was the right direction towards prosperity, so he risked the consequence of prison rather than succumb to the directions given to him which would falsify his own ideals.

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906 Words | 4 Pages

Steinbeck believes that without unity, families would not be able to bear the feats ahead of them. In contrast, Thoreau greatly focuses on individualism in his writing. He describes the society that men support are forced to “pay homage to and support [his] own meanness” (Thoreau 5). Men have the ability to make his own decisions, so why should he have to support a system that silences his own judgement? A government represents a mass amount of people, which means that this group of representatives who make decisions “leave it to the majority” (Thoreau 4).

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The Hunger for Self- Reliance Children believe that one must follow society norms in order to fit in, causing one to lose a sense of self reliance. As a person grows to mature, making life decisions play a big role on self-reliance and how he/she wants to view him/herself as a person. Katniss Everdeen, from the movie series, ‘The Hunger Games’, portrays the characteristics of being self-reliant as she breaks free from societal rules and trusts her intuition to base her own judgments on her decisions in life. By demonstrating Ralph Waldo Emerson’s principles of non-conformity, trust, and confidence; Katniss represents an awareness for the younger generation on how they can be independent to do what is right even when it is not easy.

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Through his book of essays, “Nature,” about the relationship between nature, man, and God, Ralph Waldo Emerson became the father figure of the transcendentalist period. “After the publication of his short treatise “Nature” in 1836, Emerson became the central figure of the transcendentalist movement in the United States and a guiding intellect for numerous American writers” (Source 1). Throughout his whole life, he disliked slavery. When living at Walden’s Pond for two years, Emerson urged Henry David Thoreau to keep a daily journal, which he turned into Walden, and influential Transcendentalist book about solitude in nature. Being purposeful and determined, Thoreau wrote “Civil Disobedience,” the transcendentalist doctrine about how a citizen

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The quote that I was most fond of throughout David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s works was said by Emerson in the 2nd paragraph of Self-Reliance that states “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events.”. He had said this quote when he was talking about how one will find a time in their life when something becomes too much to handle, and that the “imitation of suicide” will be relevant. He also tries to convince the reader that their divine spirit is greater than the one of society, and that they should be different than the people surrounding them. After the quote, he discusses that society is simply a conspiracy

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1031 Words | 5 Pages

Throughout both Ralph Emerson’s, “Self-Reliance” and Henry Thoreau’s, “Civil Disobedience” the desire to enjoin the reader to take action against society is very significant in each excerpt. In both pieces one is able to understand the prominent theme of individualism, as it is encourage by the writers for others to not fall under the idea of conformity. In “Self-Reliance,” Emerson expresses the idea of how significant it is for people to not conform since it will only hinder one’s growth instead of progressing even further as a unique individual. Likewise in Thoreau’s excerpt, “Civil Disobedience,” he also explains how people will never grow as people, however, he focuses mostly as to how people need to rebel against societal influences such

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783 Words | 4 Pages

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”).

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764 Words | 4 Pages

These values included nature, individualism, and reform, and can be noted in Emerson's essay (“Self-Reliance”). This information proves that Emerson’s writing was strongly influenced by his memorable

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531 Words | 3 Pages

Do I choose what will make me happy or do I choose what is practical? In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self- Reliance,” he writes “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the Divine Providence has found for you.” This quote is significant because I frequently doubt myself in my life. This quote not only inspired me but also Usain Bolt to trust in oneself and believe that the events happening will serve a greater purpose down the road.

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748 Words | 3 Pages

You can’t walk in the woods and see a leaf that doesn’t quite know if it wants to fall to the ground or stay on the tree. Thoreau noticed this, and thought that if people could be decisive in the same way that nature was, then they could “live deep and suck out all the marrow of life… live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put as to put to rout all that was not life… cut a broad swath and shave close, to drive life into a corner…” (Walden 771) This is something that Thoreau highly valued. He wanted to live as his own person, which was, in his mind, best accomplished by living in nature and not being involved with the government.

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