Vernice Mullet
English 311
Professor Ben Leubner
October 9th, 2009
Emerson
Nature:
When I read “Nature” by Emerson, I could not help but be struck by his complete and unabashed awe of Nature. No aspect of nature appears to be overlooked. The kinship between man and nature seems to play a huge role in Emerson's views. I feel as if Emerson is telling us that a person can only experience true delight and closeness to God if they first find the parallel and communion with nature.
“The health of the eye seems to demand a horizon. We are never tired, so long as we can see far enough.” I like that statement although I do not completely know what it means. My first thought, was that we are always willing to proceed as long as there appears to be no end in sight. Our horizon is endless. There is hope for better and more glorious things to come, as long as we have the vision to create that endless horizon for ourselves.
One statement that hit an odd note with me was when he said, “the worlds sole purpose is to fulfill the desire for beauty.” I believe the world is beautiful and it often fulfills our desires for beauty but it is not its sole purpose. It is much more to us then to merely bring a little glint of optical pleasure. It helps to sustain life, as well as, provide an eternal resting home for our physical frames. There is beauty in those purposes; in that case, then I would agree that it would bring about fulfilling the desire for beauty, if we were to generalize the word “sole.”
“The aspect of nature is devout. Like the figure of Jesus, she stands with bended head, and hands folded upon the breast. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.” Nature points its praise to God as man should be doing. In the 19th chapter of Luke it states that if all else were silenced that even“...the stones will cry out” proclaiming the wonder of the Lord. Nature is also the evidence of beautiful and perfect design.
Thoreau:
Economy:
“In the long run men hit only what they aim at. Therefore, they should fail immediately they had better aim at something high.”
Does he mean for us to aim higher in our standards of living modestly and practically or are we aiming too high already and we invariably miss the ultimate mark?
“Let our houses first be lined with beauty...and not overlaid with it.” So true. Too often we try to make ourselves look good on the outside without first making sure that our character and our inward actions are right and true. But I fear that Thoreau still dressed the outside of his house first. He still did things, in order to display what he deemed correct living. The outside of his house was not gaudy or overdone but the inside of himself could still be a wreck.
Reading:
“To read well, that is, to read true books in a true spirit...” Know this is when I feel as if I am beginning to understand Thoreau. I may not always agree with him but, at least, I am finding it easier to read what he has to say. To fully understand a book or what the author intended requires thought and time. The line “Books must be read as deliberately and reservedly as they were written,” couldn't be more true. Some read, me included, to past the time or to help them relax but a book, no matter the genre or topic, should inspire thought and emotions, whether those thoughts invoke action or those emotions cause a reaction.
Authors, for good or bad, “exert an influence on mankind.” With the help of the printed word, and in today's technological, blogging world, everyone has the power to influence others thoughts and actions, even if it is taken out of context or a misunderstood phrase.
It is interesting that he does not distinguish between the literate and the illiterate. They are the same to him. The distinction comes only when someone fully comprehends or understands what the meaning of how to read is.
Sound:
As I read Thoreau's words about how he measured time, I became aware of the gentle ticking of the clock on the wall. I allowed the rhythmic ticking of the clock to become the focal point of my thoughts. The soft ticking soon seemed to grow gradually louder and more distinct; where it ultimately became the only sound that I heard. Then I thought about how our time and actions are so regulated and restricted to specific times and dates that we find it hard to stray from it. We persist on glancing at our watches or clocks even when we have absolutely nothing to do.
“It was pleasant to see my whole household effects out on the grass...” That story reminded me of when I was growing up, my mother often had a garage sale in the summer. We owned this one couch that my parents had ever since they were first married, twenty-nine years ago. Although it contained some form of sentimental value to it, my mother wished to sell it and buy a nicer couch. Summer, after summer, we would haul the old, beloved couch onto the yard, pin a “reasonable” price upon the arm of it and hope that some poor college student would appreciate its vintage flare. As the hours waned and the dogged garage salers soon diminished, we would find ourselves sitting or reclining on the, once again, unclaimed, tacky, yet comfy, couch plopped in our front yard. It was kind of fun to sit on something so familiar but in a very unfamiliar spot.
Solitude:
“Solitude is not measured by the miles of space that intervene between a man and his fellows.”
One can find solitude in many aspects of life. For one man, it may be secluding himself from all society and cutting off discourse with man, in order to better understand his own thoughts; while to another man, solitude can be achieved by a mere change of room or even with the company in which he keeps. Not everyone can bear to live alone, or even have a solitary moment last more than an hour. They crave the contact and love that emanates from just being in the presence of another human being. To such a person as that, there would be and is no other reason to live but to be loved and grow in love with others. True solitude would be torture to them not a relief.
TheVillage:
Any man can become lost even if they have walked that route hundreds of times before. We should be in awe of the vastness of nature, or in other words, God's awesomeness in created nature.
It is beautiful outside in the morning!! This should be the perfect time to read Thoreau but I cannot focus on the text. My mind keeps wondering or, more like, my eyes keep being diverted by college students sauntering by on their way to class. But I do believe that I may be more in-tuned to Thoreau by my abstraction than if I was to doggedly read his book. I notice the sleepy-eyed students walk up the path in groups, although they may be entirely on their own. Although their faces do not convey anything beyond pure exhaustion, they too are affected by the people and the society that surrounds them; though they do not pay direct attention to it.
The Bean-field and The Ponds:
The path around Walden pond makes me ponder the many other paths across our land that have been left or merely began by those no longer wandering this world. That seemingly obscure path has a story or carried those who have a story. In the same way, our stories and the signs that we were once here will be around for others to discover and enjoy. We are meant to leave our footprint on this world...that is what makes the world and nature so beautiful and dynamic.
“Earth's eye.” What a wonderful vision. Although, I am thoroughly enjoying his description of the pond and its many aspects, I think that this particular description or analogy is the most romantic and accurate the he has come up with.
“The beholder measures the depth of his own nature,” We can see ourselves and the soft ripple that envelopes our image gives us a moment to reflect on the time that has past and the time to come to us.
“How much more beautiful then our lives, how much more transparent than our characters, are they!” I have nothing more to add to that.
During class, the professor pointed out a different way that we could interpret Thoreau's words about the pond and the bean-field. They are not merely the objects he is describing to be a joy for us to imagine and delight in, but they are also an example of Thoreau himself...or of ourselves. We must carefully “sow” good attributes into what we do in life; which reminds me of the Bible when it says,”what you sow is what you reap.” Put in good qualities, or build on good qualities than you will receive or witness good qualities in return. The pond, as well, represents man. Its depth and ever changing hue are like the ever changing mood of man or the depth of man's emotions and knowledge.
Higher Laws:
Can a person be considered humane if they have never learned first to be primitive or inhumane? Or is it just ignorance in the guise of humanity?
Thoreau's imagination was offended with eating meat? But he only went as far as his imagination deemed worthy. He focuses a lot on the imagination. If one can imagine something is better then it will be better. If he thinks it is worse than it is. It reminds me of the movie Hook. The children did not have any “real” food but they imagined the food and that made it real. Their imaginations created reality for them.
The savages put off eating each other when they realized that it was uncivilized; so we too will eventually put off eating animals because we will realize that it is uncivilized to eat them because we are so closely connected. Am I reading that right? We are not closely connected. He has allowed his imagination to attribute human feelings and purposes into animals.
“If you would be chaste, you must be temperate.” If you are to be chaste, you must also possess the other attributes...a man cannot merely possess one virtue and deem himself complete. He must try and grasp all aspects of chasteness, otherwise the lack of discernment of the other vices might effect his one virtue. Every mean act or every brutish habit will show in our bodies as a mark of progress in our lives, whether that is a good mark or bad. In the same way, Thoreau may possibly see it in the “body” of his writings. His bad deeds may come out in what he writes although he may not always be able to see it.
The Pond in Winter:
The barriers between nature and his home are slowly diminished implying that we are already experiencing heaven if we are aware of nature around us.
Just as it is impossible to distinguish the depth of the pond merely by looking at it with simple eyes of man, we are unable to estimate the depth of a man's life merely by glancing at him for a second.
Emerson
The American Scholar:
Vagueness!! All is vague. The things are all connected to other things but how are those things connected and how do those things effect the other things and us? You got me.
Fuller
Mystical Experience:
The words that Margaret Fuller uses to describe the weather and the scenery around her is so expressive of the mood in which her own mind and spirit was undergoing. Her words, such as: sad, reluctant, and moaning, all convey the lost and almost depressed feelings of her spiritual state.
“...there was no self.” My mind cannot completely grasp what it is that she must be saying. In one point I can kind of understand/comprehend that selfishness is all folly. In my mind, it is foolish to be self-absorbed because our lives should be lived for Christ and Christ through us. So is that what Fuller is claiming when she says, “There is no self”?
The Great Lawsuit:
“Man cannot be deaf.” or in a sense, be one-sided. Every member, man or woman, black or white, should have the exact same “freedom.” I would not call myself a feminist but to be honest, I have benefited by the words of feminists. I believe that a wife should be under the authority of the husband but it is the responsibility and duty of the husband to receive the consent, or insight, in to his wife's (or in better words) his other half, since they were to cleave and become one at the consummation of their marriage; which does not mean the the husbands brain and mind becomes the main unit; rather, that a perfect blend of the two minds, working in perfect unity, as one, should make the decisions.
It is interesting, that the highest compliment, that a man can think to give to a woman, is to claim she deserved to be a man. As if that is the highest star in which she or any woman can reach. “Above her sex...” who is above any sex? Would we ever hear that about a man? “He was above his sex.” Never. They would be hard-pressed to decide what would be deemed a better sex than their own. I may seem as if I believe that men have an extremely high opinion of themselves, which they do, but woman have an equally high opinion of themselves, as well. Which proves the equality of the two sexes. So similar yet so different.
Brownson
The Laboring Class:
“Make all the rich men good Christians, and you have lessened not the evils of existing inequality in wealth.” True to a sense. Just by changing a persons belief is not going to change whether they are rich or poor but it will help to change their view on money and how they use it. A good Christian man who may have much wealth can use that wealth to help and to benefit others. People mustn't change their religious status but, instead, their vanity status.
Did he ever actually give a solution? Or was it more Utopian talk that will never come into effect because not all men and all of creation will line up just right, in order, to make it come about.
Ripley
Brook Farm's:
When I was reading this, I could not help but think of the M. Night Shyamalan movie, The Village. All those people locked themselves away from society, building a life and culture around themselves that was pure and unmarred. They tried to build for themselves a safe haven, in order, to keep out al the many evil things that they had experienced in their life before that. But just as in that movie, the bad and harsh realities of life cannot be shut out. They will seep in and mar the once “perfect” farm they had created for themselves.
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