Aschenbach 1
Avery Aschenbach
Mr. Thompson
English 11
12 November 2014
Analysis of Transcendental Writers Thoughts On Rebelling Against Societal Conformity
Henry David Thoreau and others who rebel against the norm of societal conformity must accept the consequences that entail.
During the Transcendentalist era of writing, writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about demonstrating how an individual must rebel against societal conformity in order to seize the day, but yet willingly accept the consequences it entails. Whitman and Emerson did not take as much action upon their teachings and writings as Thoreau did. Thoreau was the only one who stood up for what he believed in and really took actions …show more content…
Emerson was a Transcendentalist also, but he never really took any action upon his teachings. Thoreau asked Emerson if he could live on his land to have a quieter place to live and really take in the nature around him. When he was asked about why he did what he did he said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to font 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.” While he was out in the woods he really connected spiritually with nature and out of that came his essay Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience was an analysis on why men obey governmental law even when they believe it is unjust. After his first initial experience with state power he wrote, “The state never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectuality, or moral, but only his body and senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.” He felt that nature was a source of truth and
Avery Aschenbach
Mr. Thompson
English 11
12 November 2014
Analysis of Transcendental Writers Thoughts On Rebelling Against Societal Conformity
Henry David Thoreau and others who rebel against the norm of societal conformity must accept the consequences that entail.
During the Transcendentalist era of writing, writers such as Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman, and Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote about demonstrating how an individual must rebel against societal conformity in order to seize the day, but yet willingly accept the consequences it entails. Whitman and Emerson did not take as much action upon their teachings and writings as Thoreau did. Thoreau was the only one who stood up for what he believed in and really took actions …show more content…
Emerson was a Transcendentalist also, but he never really took any action upon his teachings. Thoreau asked Emerson if he could live on his land to have a quieter place to live and really take in the nature around him. When he was asked about why he did what he did he said, “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to font 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.” While he was out in the woods he really connected spiritually with nature and out of that came his essay Civil Disobedience. Civil Disobedience was an analysis on why men obey governmental law even when they believe it is unjust. After his first initial experience with state power he wrote, “The state never intentionally confronts a man’s sense, intellectuality, or moral, but only his body and senses. It is not armed with superior wit or honesty, but with superior physical strength. I was born to be forced. I will breathe after my own fashion. Let us see who is the strongest.” He felt that nature was a source of truth and