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Thoreau Transcendentalism

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Transcendence

“My time in the woods is time spent with a tutor on how to live” (Chris Matakas; My Mastery). Transcendentalism is defined as the idea that someone can isolate themselves from the world in nature in order to grow as a person and develop a sound mind. There are two very famous transcendentalists who are known for their works on and lifestyle of transcendentalism. They are Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. There are quite a few similarities between the two in several aspects. For example, they lived similar lives in similar places and wrote about very alike things.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803. When his father died when he was seven, Emerson went to live with his aunt who encouraged his independent thinking. He was constantly coming up with ideas and changing his views on the world throughout his life. He had a way with words and was well-spoken which is why he is one of the most quoted writers in American Literature. Henry David Thoreau was born in Concord in 1817. As a child he was very independent and strong-willed. In 1841, he moved in with Emerson, who fascinated Thoreau with his transcendentalist ideas. As a result, this led to him going to live at Walden Pond …show more content…

They also talk about solidarity and freedom of oneself along with soundness of mind in their works. Such an example can be seen in Walden where Thoreau says: “As long as possible live free and uncommitted” (Thoreau, Walden). That statement perfectly words that idea of being free and committing only to oneself. Emerson’s view from Nature explains that “Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or a mourning piece” (Emerson, Nature). He means nature is, in a way, the beginning and end of all things because we, as people, come from the Earth and eventually return to the Earth. Nature is everything and everything is

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After reading Krakauer’s Into the Wild and Henry David Thoreau’s exerts from Walden, we can see a deep connection between Christopher McCandless and Thoreau’s transcendental beliefs. Both Chris McCandless and Thoreau show transcendentalism in their actions of self-wisdom, differences, and liberation. Chris McCandless life choices in Into the wild reflect the transcendental beliefs of Thoreau’s Walden. The first transcendental belief of McCandless is that he marches to the beat of a different drummer.

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In this essay I am explaining how the four authors: Michael Donovan, Emerson, Thoreau, and Krakauer’s transcendental beliefs are similar. To me transcendental means your own belief and the way you see life. Michael, author of “It’s All-On-Me” says in his poem, “looks like it's time to up and start mounting a game-plan attack” he is saying everything is going wrong and needs a plan to make it all better again so Michael is going to find the best way for himself to feel better. Michael Donovan is very similar in a way with these authors, they are very independent and kind of stubborn in a way that these differences make them alike. Ralph Emerson, a very independent man who needs nobody but himself, he believes in rights as well as his

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The key to transcendentalism is confidence in a person’s own beliefs, but one more could be

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In the 1820s was a period known as the Industrial Revolution. Alexander Hamilton wrote the Report on Manufacturers in 1791 that gave the idea that women and children could be used as cheap labor. Thus, in the 1820s factories in New England started to hire women and children for only three dollars per week (Women in the Early Industrial Revolution ). Three dollars a week does not seem like much however, many of these women worked on farms were they did not earn that much money. Money was not the only thing that persuaded these women to begin working in factories.

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"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.”- Henry David Thoreau. Transcendentalism is an American philosophy that revolves around self-reliance and independence, commonly in nature, a Transcendentalist wants to find the true meaning in life. I believe that Chris McCandless was a Transcendentalist because he was able to leave his whole life behind and take on a minimalist lifestyle while having a strong relationship with god. However, I believe that I am not a Transcendentalist, but simply an adventurer.

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Transcendentalism is commonly seen everywhere. It can be seen in pieces of literature, in plays like The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail, and even in speeches from famous leaders like “ A Time for Choosing” by Ronald Reagan. Transcendentalism is a different way of thinking in which you focus on yourself rather than society. As a transcendentalist, you focus on simplifying your life, being confident in yourself, and not conforming or listening to society. You focus on the importance of nature and believe in a higher power.

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Martin Luther King Jr VS Henry David Thoreau What is a transcendentalist? A transcendentalist is a radical logical and social movement that developed in New England around 1836. Henry Thoreau was a transcendentalist and was also a famous author where he wrote during the transcendentalist time. On the other hand Martin Luther King Jr was a person that fought for everybody to be equal. He had a speech called “I Had A Dream" Whereas Henry Thoreau and Martin Luther King Jr are different as Henry Thoreau didn't pay poll taxes and was an author of the 19th century, while Martin Luther King Jr was taking part in the civil right marches and role model in the 20th century, they are also similar as they both spent a day in jail, were transcendentalists, and well educated.

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Henry David Thoreau was born on July 12, 1817 (here is a modern day picture of his birthplace). He was born and grew up in Concord, Massachusetts, a quaint town about twenty miles outside of Boston. He lived there with his three siblings, John Jr., Helen, and Sophia. His mother, Cynthia Dunbar, rented out rooms of their home to help earn more money for the family of 6. His father, John Thoreau, owned and worked in his own pencil factory.

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Emerson and Thoreau are two very different people; however, they have very similar ideas and thoughts. They both want you to take the time and reflects your own thoughts. In addition to that, they want you to question your own thoughts. There are people who will always tell you what you should do, There were people who told Emerson and Thoreau what to do. They denied everything everyone said.

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People are easily influenced and persuaded by higher authorities. Ralph Waldo Emerson was a key figure in the Transcendentalist movement. This movement promoted ideas of intuition, independence, and inherent goodness in humans and nature. His most famous essay during this time was “Self-Reliance.” Throughout the text he expresses how to avoid conformity set by our society and to follow our own individual path.

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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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The Transcendentalists believed in a Universal Being that existed in nature. When Emerson is in nature, it consumes him: “I become a transparent eye-ball; I am nothing; I see all; the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God” (Emerson 3). In Emerson’s mind, nature offers perpetual youth and joy, and counteracts whatever misfortune befalls an individual. The visionary man may lose himself in it, may become a receptive "transparent eyeball" through which the Universal Being transmits itself into his consciousness and makes him sense his oneness with God. Though Hawthorne believed in the same Universal Being, but in Hawthorne’s mind the Being was dark and mysterious, and lingered in the supernatural shadows.

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Transcendentalism is the belief that man is inherently good, is an independent thinker, and goes out into nature to get in touch with himself. Generally, man has good intentions and intends no harm unto others. In addition, man does not need society to give him and develop his thoughts, as he already has them within. To help bring out these already installed beliefs, man has the desire to go out into nature to get in touch with himself and find deeper notions within. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writings “Self Reliance” and “American Scholar”, he writes about how being a true individual means that one must have his own beliefs, and not copy someone else’s ideas.

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Transcendentalism, a philosophical and social movement, demonstrated how divinity spreads through all nature and humanity. One of the main ideals of transcendentalism, living simply and independently, define as the principle. In matters of financial and interpersonal relations, independence projects as more valuable than neediness. Henry david Thoreau elaborates on these transcendentalist ideals when he travels into the woods and writes an essay.

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The Constant Gardener by John le Carré is an unusual novel in many respects. Combining the suspense and thrill of the espionage novel for which le Carré is justly famous, it exhibits, perhaps for the first time, the author’s deep-rooted humanism especially at the suffering of the less privileged living in the Third World countries among whom Africa ranks first. Though the novel could have easily slipped into some sort of sentimentality, le Carré has supported it with a mass of well-researched details which go to make up, with a great deal of authenticity, this narrative of exploitation and betrayal and blind profiteering from the sufferings of others. It lays bare the machinations and structures of monolithic corporations which manage to penetrate even such edifices like the WHO. The power of these global corporations transcend geographical boundaries and in today’s world of commerce they wield a power greater than that of governments and even policies of governments are made manipulable by the nexus that exists between the politicians, bureaucrats and the businessmen.

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