Transcendentalism Essay

In the case of the United States, Charles Willson Peale (1741-1827), a painter and a collector, first opened a museum, Peale's Cabinet of Curiosities in Philadelphia to show and record the history of discovery in the new world in 1786. He displayed his own portraits of George Washington, and later with bones he unearthed of a North American woolly mammoth. According to Ford Bell, early American collectors put emphasis on a different impulse compared to the kings in Europe. Bell said "In the U.S.…

In every American household there is the ultimate goal to achieve the “American Dream”. And every household holds a different version of the “American Dream”. But what is the proper version of the “American Dream”? How can we achieve it? Who has access to it? For the majority of people, myself included, one would argue that the “American Dream” is to utilize the system of capitalism, to achieve financial success, materialistic belongings, have a family and to be healthy and stable when retired.…

“Every particular in nature, a leaf, a drop, a crystal, a moment of time is related to the whole, and partakes of the perfection of the whole (Emerson).” From the trees, to the water, and even the snow, nature displays Transcendental philosophy. The sun represents the “oversoul”, which is the universal spirit where all our souls shall return to when we die. In addition, through the branches on the trees, you can see the light piercing through. Every day it will shine and penetrate through the…

Henry David Thoreau is a writer that is obsessed with nature. To Thoreau nature is just more than trees, dirt, and animals. Nature is about the spiritual connection your soul can have. How nature makes you feel and forget about the realities of life is what's important to him. He begins his writing, Walking (1862), saying "I wish to speak a word for Nature, for absolute freedom and wildness, as contrasted with a freedom and culture merely civil-To regard man as an inhabitant, or a part and…

American and German philosophies are very different in some ways, but very similar in other ways. In this research paper, we will be comparing and contrasting the lives of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Immanuel Kant as well as American and German philosophies and how they differ from one another. Kant was born in 1724 in the Prussian city of Königsberg (now Kaliningrad in Russia). His parents were Johann Georg and Anna Regina, and they were both pietists. Although, they raised Kant in this tradition…

The Revenant, The Road, and Everest, are the three artifacts that will be analyzed in this essay. The filmmakers of these three films all seem to be forcing the audience to walk away at the end with a feeling that nature is a difficult force to overcome. By depicting nature as a proving ground for survival, we see how nature threatens to overcome human life. In attempt to try and survive, humans must adapt to and thoroughly understand their environment. These depictions connect to the…

The book that I am reading for SSR is the NOBA (National Outdoor Book Award) winning One Man’s Wilderness by Sam Kieth. The story takes place near the mountainous Twin Lakes territory in Alaska--a wilderness almost completely untouched by the hand of man--and is narrated in first person from the view of Dick Proenneke--the protagonist--of whom the author used the actual journals and pictures--combined with their own first-hand experiences of the subject and setting--to craft a tribute to a man…

In the film “Into the Wild” directed by Sean Penn, it is a spellbinding story of a young man who seeks true freedom in the wilderness. The main character Christopher McCandless, is a very intelligent and intense person that abandons all his worldly possession to explore the beauty of nature. Through his acts/values he embodies many romantic ideals. In this film he is allured by the wilderness where he can be completely one with nature. In nature he is able to escape the evils of society to seek…

Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote, "Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow." What Mr. Emerson means by this statement is that you must get outside of your comfort zone in order to grow as a person. It is my opinion that a person should go 'beyond what you have mastered' because it allows a person to learn new thoughts and ideas, grow as an individual, and experience new things. The first reason why it is important to step out of ones comfort…

For man to have faith in himself is the only thing keeping him from achieving peace. This can be seen in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”. Throughout the essay Emerson argues for everyone to be authentic to themselves and to not conform to society. Emerson also believes that man should be nonconformists and he believes they should be true to themselves. Although Emerson portrays many different themes throughout his essay, his overall message is for man to be themselves. First,…