One particular characteristic of transcendentalism that is noteworthy is the growing sense of self-awareness. Throughout “Nature,” Ralph Waldo Emerson’s writing suggests historical criticism in a way that reflects how he and others began to become more aware of their own feelings. It’s evident in this story that Emerson explores the idea of self-awareness by demanding to understand the world in a way that fully describes God and nature. Emerson writes “The foregoing generations beheld God and nature face to face; we, through our eyes"(Emerson, p. 592). Troubled by this trend, Emerson asks, "Why should not we also enjoy an original relation to the universe”(592)? He explores this idea by specifically describing nature as everything that is
