David Henry Hwang

due to each distinct mindsets of this era- sublime, romanticism, and transcendentalism-, each writer observed nature for different reasons and found and had different explanations for and experiences with the natural world. As stated previously, David Thoreau was one of these writers who looked toward nature, experienced it, and hoped to display his findings on it to all: “If it proved to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world;…

There are many different events that go on in our great nation that of which we choose to call the United States of America. Many of which help shape us into who we are and some that shape us into who we become, our beliefs, values, and morals. Events vary from one person making a stance, to millions of people uniting to be heard as one. Civil disobedience is the act of opposing a law one considers unjust and peacefully disobeying it while accepting the consequences. Peaceful resistance to laws…

Civil disobedience is widely considered a popular way for the “average citizen” to easily and safely effect social change. Theoretically, it has very few real consequences, and is not hazardous to life or property, and works for the greater good, but in reality, the opposite is true. An essay originally published in Robert A. Goldwin, ed., On Civil Disobedience, stated that civil disobedience is “the resort—always a theoretically and practically weak resort—of the subject of law, exercised…

Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “In the long run, there is nothing more liberating, no more exhilarating than to determine one's position, state it bravely, and then act boldly.” Thoreau was the finest example of this quote. He refused to pay a poll tax for which he thought funded the Mexican war, and for that he was made to stay the night in jail; however, it was entirely unimaginable that it would have been such a liberating and enlightening experience for him. Thoreau’s experience utterly…

God’s Creation Ralph Waldo Emerson was a leading Transcendentalist, who related individuals to both the natural world and their inner worlds. In Emerson’s book Nature, he explored the relationship between the individual to the natural world. In Nature Emerson writes, “In the woods we return to reason and faith” to emphasize the significance in the beauty and spirituality that only nature can provide (1). This quote is significant because it embodies Nature’s core theme: spirituality.…

Henry David Thoreau, is a transcendentalist who believed that society does not want you to become an individual. To free one’s self from the material world, and to go above and beyond what society expects people to do. His essay “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” shows how during time of 1849 when is essay was published the life in North America was currently difficult to live in, since the Mexican-American war was currently in session, and people were sent to jail unjustly if they did not pay…

in the importance to speak your mind and follow your conscious. He believed you should stay true to yourself no matter what consequence or how anyone feels about it. In the play The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee Henry Thoreau's personality was really bold. I had never read about a character who was so out-spoken and did exactly what he wanted. One of the scene's that stood out to me the most was when I learned he went to jail because he refused to support the…

“That is weird” “Why would you ever believe that”, judgmental, rude and close minded people run our society today, but what most people seem to always forget about is the Transcendentalist in the world, the people who always seems to see the good in people and in life in general. In the book Self Reliance by Emerson and the movie The Dead Poet Society Directed by Peter Weir, the ideas of transcendentalism are talked about quite frequently. In the movie Dead Poet Society and in the book,…

In Life dream are supposed to be pursued at any cost. Dreams help the world progress. Without dreams there would be no point in individuality. Transcendentalists like Henry David Thoreau and Ralph Waldo Emerson believed in the fact that every person have self worth. In the movie Dead Poet Society the setting takes place at a private all boy school called Welton Academy. At school academics are a priority and life is strict. The students are pushed to become what society want them to become.…

civil disobedience in order to impact the free society that we live in today. Peaceful resistance to laws positively impact a free society. Without civil disobedience, it would have been almost impossible to make change in our society. In 1846, Henry David Thoreau refused to pay taxes as a way to show his opposition to slavery. Thoreau was intentionally breaking the law without any violence. It was illegal not pay taxes. It is still illegal now and one can be sent to jail if they don’t pay…