Corruption In American Literature

Throughout time individuals have rebelled against corrupt policies within society in order to obtain their independence as well as their rights as an individual. The transcendental movement, which was a philosophical and social movement of the early nineteenth century that promoted intuitive and spiritual thinking instead of scientific thinking based on pure reason. Many poets during this era such as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman significantly altered American literature and people’s perspectives through their works. They each portray nature as a life force that can be understood only by taking risks and contemplating the meaning of being human. Though one may believe that taking these risks may result in a negative …show more content…
He believed that one should return to nature by severing themselves from the corruption of the modern world in order to truly understand oneself and society. For example, in Thoreau’s essay Civil Disobedience, he states, “Absolutely speaking, the more money, the less virtue; for money comes between a man and his objects, and obtains them for him; it was certainly no great virtue to obtain it.” Here, Thoreau illustrates that money will ultimately lead to one’s corruption as it deviates an individual’s morals and true nature. Although like Emerson, Thoreau believes that the government is corrupt and that the power truly resides in the people. As seen when he states, “There will never be a really free and enlightened State until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly.” Thoreau implicitly portrays that individuals should rebel against a government that does not respect their individual rights and controls them with immoral laws because the government derives its power from the people. Likewise, to Thoreau, Walt Whitman also believed that nature reflects one’s individualism and serves as a template for how to live a meaningful life. For instance, in Whitman’s poem Song of Myself, he states, “And as to your life, I reckon you are the leavings of many deaths, / No doubt I have died myself ten …show more content…
Anti-transcendentalists believed that man was capable of evil and that nature was destructive and indifferent. In the short story Young Goodman Brown, by the anti-transcendentalist Nathaniel Hawthorne, the protagonist young Goodman Brown symbolizes the individuals involved in the anti-transcendentalism movement. For example, when Goodman Brown encounters the man in the forest with the serpent shaped staff he refuses to interact with him. As seen here, “It is my purpose now to return whence I came. I have scruples, touching the matter thou wot’st of…Too far, too far!...My father never went into the woods on such an errand, nor his father before him. We have been a race of honest men and good Christians…And shall I be the first of the name of Brown, that ever took this path and kept.” Goodman Brown refuses the mans offer to use the staff to return home because he considers the man and the forest to be evil, while he believes that he, his wife, and his predecessors are pure. This makes him hesitant to believe the man and take a risk. Though Goodman Brown did ultimately endure a traumatizing event that causes him to lose faith as a result of taking a risk by using the mans staff, it is essential for an individual to take risks regardless of the consequences in order to rebel against