Book of Concord

Throughout time the written history of the world literature has been able to bring a new perspective into unknown subjects for readers across the world. Bringing a new perspective on the world around them causes individuals to become greater thinkers and it allows them to question their motives and other people 's motives in order to improve their lives or other peoples lives. It also gives us a look into different cultures and to find similarities of that culture with our own cultures. This…

At the heart of a classic work of literature is its central theme or idea. It is a common occurrence that many classics share a universal idea or belief, but are explored through the different perspectives of those from different cultures or social statuses, for instance. Two classics that demonstrate this are Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe, which is about a fictional fierce warrior named Okonkwo of an Ibo village in Nigeria who faces circumstances beyond his power and the downfall of the…

In the late 1820’s a spiritual movement known as Transcendentalism began to take the literary world by storm. The main ideas of Transcendentalism were a strong connection to the natural world, idealism, individualism, and intuition. Transcendentalism is the belief in the idea that human ideals can transcend or go beyond the natural world. Many writers try to write based on a simpler life, spirituality, and going beyond the natural world as we see it however, there was no scientific evidence…

always go on adventures just to get away and escape from life. Until one day Chris went on the biggest adventure of his life up into the Alaskan wilderness. With giving up everything one of Chris’s inspirations was from Henry David Thoreau and his book “Walden”. Thoreau went into a wild of his own to get in touch with nature and simplicity as well. Many know that Thoreau was a big transcendentalist and wanted to just be one with the world, so Chris wanted to achieve being his own transcendental…

a philosophical movement that took place during the 1830s. It stressed the ideas of instinct and spirituality over scientific thinking. Cheryl Strayed is an example of a modern day transcendentalist. She is an author, whose most well known for her book Wild. Wild is the story of how she coped with her mother's death. Strayed was devastated and as a result her marriage failed and spiraled into a heroine addiction. She realized she needed a healthy way to deal with her problems so she set off on…

Pangloss is Candide's mentor and primary guide. He's the knowledge and worldview source for Candide. However, His effect is completely the opposite of the typical mentors. Pangloss knows little about the structure of the world since he lived only an idle life inside a castle. Candide has never had a direct experience with the outside world. Therefore, he without any question believes in Pangloss’s philosophy. Candide is incredibly gullible, faithful, idealistic, and innocent to an extreme level.…

During the late 1820’s, a protest against intellectualism and spiritually began among authors, philosophers, and poets who believed that the dignity of an individual is beyond what he/she can see. Writings of transcendentalists give readers their point of view of how society is being wasted away due to religious and political beliefs. Nonconformist and influential thinker, Henry David Thoreau, emphasized on the idea of living a mindful life instead of devoted on wealth. In his essay, “Walden”,…

American philosopher, Waldo Emerson has stated: “I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius calls me.” He further explains: “Every man alone is sincere. At the entrance of a second person, hypocrisy begins.” These criticisms of life are found in Emerson’s Self Reliance, and his essay Friendship, and illustrate Emerson’s belief in hyper-individualism. Hyper-Individualism is a tendency for people to act in a highly self-oriented way with little regard for society. Evidence of…

In a world without the different ideas from authors, readers would be reading the same types of stories without any diversity. There would be only one theme of a story until a brave author would break away from the chain and make a different type of story. Sure, the writer of the story would be rejected from society for a while, but the story they wrote will change the views of future author’s writing. Literature throughout history has shown many various ideas of themes. One of the most…

Henry David Thoreau was a transcendentalist thinker who decided to live next to a pond for a while and write a book that most current day high school students despise. However, some of the lessons hidden in his abstract metaphors and confusing similes still hold weight today. One of the main focuses of Walden was to show readers that they can live off of the bare minimum and do not need fancy technology to live. His life at Walden Pond proved this notion. While many people may have read…