Comparing Individualism In Emerson, Donovan, And Henry David Thoreau

Jon Krakauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Michael Donovan, and Henry David Thoreau are all great authors who are unique in their own special way, however, each of the authors write about one central idea that is portrayed in most of their work. Transcendentalism. Transcendental ideology is the belief that the things of the world such as the government and society itself have taken away the freedom of individuals, and have forced people to no longer live a “self-reliant” life. Krakauer, Emerson, Donovan, and Thoreau display these beliefs in many of their writings; each of them touching on different aspects of transcendentalism they most strongly support and live by. Self-reliance is perhaps one of the more strongly expressed beliefs by each of the authors. In fact, Emerson has a literary work titled, “Self Reliance” where he expresses his own personal belief that, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve …show more content…
Each of the four authors write about the importance of individualism and the necessity of it to live a life of transcendence. “It’s All-On-Me” is a prime example of this belief. In the middle of this poem Donovan writes, “Looks like it’s time to up and start mounting a game-plan attack to find best odds to stack for just what may lay ahead up there way-around-the-bend.” “Civil Disobedience” is also a good example of the individualist belief. Towards the end of the excerpt, Thoreau says, “ Let every man make known what kind of government would command his respect, and that will be one step toward obtaining it…”. Jon Krakauer never states his own opinion on individualism, but the main character of his book, Chris McCandless, based his entire life off individualism. Emerson, however, is quite the opposite. He thoroughly expresses his position on individualism in his piece “Self Reliance” which is entire paper about individualism and of course, self