Influence on Nature
Nature is all around us. How people choose to treat the nature is up to them, as well as how they choose to perceive it. Transcendentalism is the belief that in order to learn more about oneself, they must go beyond themselves and what they think. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both have very similar ideas about nature and how people treat it in their everyday lives. Both Emerson and Thoreau both believe people can’t own nature, all of our actions affect nature, and that people don’t appreciate the nature around them enough. The transcendental belief of the importance of nature is shown by Emerson in Nature and Thoreau in Walden. They both reference nature in a positive way, and how humans act in and around …show more content…
In Emerson’s Nature, this point is proven when he says, “Most persons don’t see the sun”(Emerson 220). Emerson is saying that yes, people physically see the sun, but they don’t really see it or appreciate it. He understands, that even though people go every day and don’t think twice about the sun, if suddenly it weren't there one day, most people wouldn’t even notice. This is how he proves his point that people don’t appreciate nature and all it has to give enough. Thoreau proves a similar point in Walden by saying, “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” (Thoreau 237). Thoreau is saying that he knows that everyday people don’t appreciate the nature around them. He wanted to go live in it so he could have a deeper appreciation of what the nature has given him. By Emerson and Thoreau saying these things, they are proving that as humans, people don’t appreciate the nature around us everyday, as they
Nature is all around us. How people choose to treat the nature is up to them, as well as how they choose to perceive it. Transcendentalism is the belief that in order to learn more about oneself, they must go beyond themselves and what they think. Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau both have very similar ideas about nature and how people treat it in their everyday lives. Both Emerson and Thoreau both believe people can’t own nature, all of our actions affect nature, and that people don’t appreciate the nature around them enough. The transcendental belief of the importance of nature is shown by Emerson in Nature and Thoreau in Walden. They both reference nature in a positive way, and how humans act in and around …show more content…
In Emerson’s Nature, this point is proven when he says, “Most persons don’t see the sun”(Emerson 220). Emerson is saying that yes, people physically see the sun, but they don’t really see it or appreciate it. He understands, that even though people go every day and don’t think twice about the sun, if suddenly it weren't there one day, most people wouldn’t even notice. This is how he proves his point that people don’t appreciate nature and all it has to give enough. Thoreau proves a similar point in Walden by saying, “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” (Thoreau 237). Thoreau is saying that he knows that everyday people don’t appreciate the nature around them. He wanted to go live in it so he could have a deeper appreciation of what the nature has given him. By Emerson and Thoreau saying these things, they are proving that as humans, people don’t appreciate the nature around us everyday, as they