Ralph Waldo Emerson - American Scholar

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One of the ways that we can resist pressure from urges to conform and consistent is through the “source, at once the essence of genius, of virtue, and of life, which we call Spontaneity or Instinct”, or so-called intuition (PerkinsGeorge & PerkinsBarbara, 2009). According to Emerson, Intuition is an inner knowledge that springs from spontaneous spark by the one, single source of all life, wisdom, and inspiration. This argument is at the crux of Transcendentalism: An all-encompassing Over-soul that bring life into the universe and which is the source of all wisdom and inspiration. As the individual is sparked by intuition to reach the truth, he transcends the reality and can realize his “true” source of energy, which is the over soul.

Henry David Thoreau

Where I lived and What I lived for

Henry David Thoreau (HDT) was in search of a shelter where he could be free from the entanglement to the society. He considered buying Hollowell farm, which offered a special advantage that he wanted – solitude – but he did not want to create economic burden by buying a farm. He eventually settled in the woods with a small hut, declaring “independence” from the society. For HDT, moving into Walden was more profound than a just simple act of dwelling; he talks about his hut being “new and unprofaned part of the universe” (PerkinsGeorge & PerkinsBarbara, 2009). The remote location, in fact, allowed him to seek true meanings of life by turning inward to discover one’s potential for greatness. Here, we see the notion of “Self-Reliance,” a recurring theme of transcendentalism. He argues that to live a life to the fullest is to shape deliberately our own life as a conscious individual. The point is that the individual, precisely his consciousness, is the center of the universe. This can only be realized through rediscovering the potential that resides in him, and in order to do so, independence from the complexity of society and economic entanglement is the key.

Brute Neighbors

In a short dialogue between Hermit and Poet, HDT portrays his dilemma between the pursuit of “higher” thoughts (meditation about life) and worldly pleasure (fishing) (PerkinsGeorge & PerkinsBarbara, 2009)

. For Hermit to Poet to go on fishing, he must disengage himself from spiritual activity; he cannot follow both his instinct for worldly pleasure and his spiritual instincts at the same time. He ends up following Poet for fishing, and he describes the various animals that lived in Walden.

Conclusion

HDT encourages the readers not to be limited by the world we live in and expand the horizon of their lives. Nevertheless, this does not necessarily mean sailing out to another side of the globe. Instead, life can be an inward “voyage” whereby we discover our true potentials and identities as men. Once a man continues to advance in the direction of his inner potential, he will eventually be liberated from the old laws and entanglements and reach the higher order of beings. He warns the reader not to fall into the trap of being contend with “commonest sense” and paralyzing influence of the past (PerkinsGeorge & PerkinsBarbara, 2009). He also tells us to avoid giving into conformity that society demands. Instead of trying to live up to the standards of the world, he recommends the readers to “step to the music that he hears, however measured or far away.”

African American and Women’s Movement

One of the central idea of Transcendentalism is that each, or soul, is equal. Since anyone can have transcendent experience through discovering one’s inner-self and after that connected to the spiritual world, there was no arbitrary distinction between saved and damned, privileged and underprivileged, or honorable and ignoble. Such concept was not only influential but also central to national proposition that all men are created equal and have the same inalienable rights. In fact, Transcendental notions had been foundational to much of the ideologies behind among writers and social reformers around in early to late 19th century, especially abolition of slavery and women’s movement.

Freedom’s Journal was the first black-owned and operated newspaper in the U.S. Samuel E. Cornish and John B. Russwurm were the editors. The journal consisted of news of present issues, anecdotes, and events, and mostly used to address issues, such as slavery and colonization. Freedom’s Journal especially advocated for African-American’s voting rights and as well as their freedom from slavery.

Some of the works that advocate for women’s rights in the time depicted women as an independent individual that could share equal rights and economic status with men. Many of these literary works reflected Emerson’s doctrine of self-reliance that calls for a capable, responsible, and independent individual who defies social constraints against her.

Unlike Warner’s intent, her writing, The Wide, Wide World, in some ways fostered the movement of the culture towards women’s rights and individualism. According to her critique, Isabelle White, Warner’s ideology accepted and reinforced the authority of the family, and at its core, Warner believed that women should submit to the patriarchal authorities. In the novel, Warner depicts the conflict between authority and individual but does so in such a way as to ultimately give authority to the individual. In the novel, Ellen’s submission to the patriarchal figures instead leads to a unifying relationship with them that will restore her privacy and individual life. By becoming passive, Warner’s protagonist becomes more powerful. In Warner’s writing, the traditional relationship between the individual and the religious authority is reversed. Whereas the church and religious doctrine defined the hierarchical relationship with the individual, in her novel, the individual is now the interpreter of the Bible and Christ as he exists within the person. Thus, one must rely on oneself through self-nurture to know the religious truth. This idea resonates with Emerson’s notion of Self-Reliance, and Warner’s writing happened to depict independent, self-reliant image of women that is central to transcendentalism.

In Fanny Fern’s works, the underlying theme was her concern for women’s rights. She particularly paid attention to the issue of economic independence for women, which was a controversial concept at the time. With frank and satirical language, she challenged the restriction of conventions and tried to give a more realistic portrayal of people and events. In