The Black Cat by Edgar Allen Poe

I liked this story, even though is was sort of twisted; it was interesting. The narrator starts out as a well-tempered nice young man with a kind heart, and by the end of the story he's a conniving murderer who has all but completely lost his mind. Sure, you could blame one or both of the two cats for the poor mans demise, or you could blame the alcohol, but the fact is that the man was consumed with rage. He says, "The fury of a demon instantly possessed me." This goes against what the Transcendentalists believed. They thought that people were pure of heart, so where do murderous actions come from? Transcendentalists thought that society could skew a persons perspective and quiet their inner God/conscience, but no one was telling the narrator to kill his cat or his wife. The urge to kill came from within himself, and he didn't seem to feel much remorse for the awful things he did. No, rather than feeling remorse, he just wanted to make sure he covered his tracks and didn't get caught. He actually seemed to feel worse about killing the first cat than he did his own wife. The narrator was worried about his immortal soul, he feels he is "even beyond the reach of the infinite mercy of the Most Merciful and Most Terrible God." A Transcendentalist would not have thought anyone could ever be so removed from God, because God was supposed to be a part of the individual - you can't be apart from something that is intangible and inside of you.
Poe uses a bit of irony in The Black Cat. After the main character buried an axe in the brain of his beloved wife, decided to mortar her body up in a false chimney in the basement of their house. After his task is finished he takes great pride in his job well done, "I looked around triumphantly, and said to myself -- 'Here at least, then, my labor has not been in vain'". This is almost a direct hit on what Emerson says in Self Reliance, "A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work." Poe took one of the Transcendental ideals and twisted it into something sick and horrifying. He kind of throws it in their faces that their beliefs are too idealistic.

Maybe this is why my parents call me "Nega-Tori".

I think that I'm definitely closer to being a Dark Romanticist than a Transcendentalist. I agree with the Dark Romanticist's belief that there is a major flaw in Transcendentalist thought - sometimes people do things that are just plain bad, so how is that possible if we're all a part of God? God is not supposed to be evil; God doesn't murder, or steal, or go insane. God may be pure, but people are most certainly not, and therefore separate from God. People do go insane, bad things do happen, and within everyone there is the possibility of evil. This all sounds very dark and brooding, but it's just sort of a reality. I'm not saying that there isn't good in the world too, I'd like to think that there is more good in the world than bad, but the bad does exist.

Dick Proenneke - Alone In the Wilderness

Dick Proenneke loved and respected nature. He must have in order to have spent so many years "Alone In the Wilderness". Proenneke talked about the peace and beauty of nature, how he had dreamt of it, and how he was happy to finally be surrounded by it. He wanted to see if he could enjoy his own company for a whole year, I'm not sure why, but Poenneke wanted solitude. All of this fits in perfectly with what Emerson wrote about in Nature; "To go in to solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society... But if a man should be alone, let him look at the stars." Poenneke was definitely retiring from society, and taking Emerson's advice about being in "the perpetual presence of the sublime".

While I was watching that video clip I kept being reminded of Self-Reliance by Emerson; "A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work." Proenneke must have taken pride in his hard work, otherwise he would have just bought a cabin, or used power tools to build one. Instead, Proenneke painstakingly went about the process of constructing his log cabin with nothing but hand tools and determination.
I think Pronneke embodied many of the Transcendental beliefs. I'm not sure whether or not Proenneke thought he could transcend the barrier between himself and God by going into nature, but he did think that he could become more in touch with himself.

Resistance to Civil Government by Henry David Thoreau

Although it was a bit long-winded, I liked Resistance to Civil Government much more than the other works I read for this unit. Maybe because it appealed to the idealist in me. I admire Thoreau for going to jail for something he believed in, even if it was only for a night. Thoreau says "Can there not be a government in which majorities do not virtually decide right and wrong, but conscience? -in which majorities decide only those questions to which the rule of expediency is applicable?" I pretty much totally agree with this. Why do we need to bicker and vote about things that should just be a matter of conscience? I understand that right and wrong are not always so easily defined, but there are instances where what is right and what is wrong can be clearly seen. The arrogant tone that bothered me in the other reading examples showed up in Resistance to Civil Government as well, but it wasn't an overriding theme. I thought it was interesting that Thoreau posed the question "Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government?" so many years ago, and no one has yet to come up with an acceptable answer. It seems like we should have been able to progress to a better form of government by now, doesn't it? There are obvious problems with our government, so why hasn't a solution been found yet?! I guess I can't be too upset about it though, I obviously don't have the answers either...
Resistance to Civil Government is a good example of transcendental thought because Thoreau expresses a need to fight against organized government. If you thought, like the transcendentalists did, that everyone had the ability to connect directly with God, would you think that there needed to be government? If we were so close to God and godliness, we would be able to govern ourselves quite nicely I think. Thoreau says we should be men first, and that you should never have to "resign his conscience to the legislator..." If we were meant to be blind followers of rule and government "Why has every man a conscience, then?" Another example of transcendental though that I picked up on was when Thoreau wrote about his chance encounter with his one night cellmate. Thoreau wanted to talk to this man and gain as much knowledge about his views on life before he had to leave. He was worried about the fact that his time to converse with him was limited. So, why would an upstanding, intelligent citizen care so much about the inner workings of a convict? Well, being a transcendentalists, Thoreau would have believed that God could work through this convict just as well as anyone else (maybe even better). I felt that Thoreau was trying to learn what God might have been saying to his cellmate. Thoreau mentions earlier in the text the hypocrisy of his neighbors and friends who pay taxes that support a war they disagree with. Maybe he thought someone of a different class would have a better perspective, or at least a different one, which he could learn from.

Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell pages 452 - 1037

I finally finished it!

Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Self-Reliance starts off with the statement that "imitation is suicide". Emerson is trying to say that by copying someone else we kill off our inner selves, and since our inner selves are tiny Gods, this is a rather awful thing to do. Thus, society and the status quo are very bad things indeed. We're supposed to isolate ourselves from all outside influences to become the brave men that God has chosen to make his work manifest in. Basically, there is no one better than you and all others are just trying to impede your progress. I endeavored to look past the self righteousness that so irks me, and see what Emerson was really trying to say with Self Reliance. I agree that the ability to think for yourself and knowing when society has it wrong, are good things. I just disagree that we can only accomplish great things if we disregard the thoughts and ideas of others. Emerson says, "To be great is to be misunderstood...", which may be true in many instances, but he also implies that people like Pythagoras, Jesus, Luther, Galileo and Newton all were independent thinkers. To an extent, they were, but they also read and studied the works of ones who came before them. I think some things about Transcendentalism are right on, but all of the ideas seem to be taken to such an extreme that I can't fully agree with it.
Self-Reliance is a good example of transcendental writing because it talks so much about listening to the inner self, the little god that lives in you. Emerson says, "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds... With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do." This is a good example of transcendental thought as well, because Emerson is talking about the consistency of society, and society/consistency impede transcending. Self-Reliance is all about awakening your destiny and becoming as great as you can be by not following the norm, and listening to your intuition; all of that is a part of what the transcendentalist believed.

Nature by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Something about this essay rubbed me all wrong. It just comes off so conceited sounding. Emerson says that there are few men who can see nature, that nature can only be seen by those with the hearts of children. He says that nature belongs to the poet, but part of what is so amazing about nature is that it belongs to everyone with senses. He also says: "In the presence of nature, a wild delight runs through the man, in spite of real sorrows." I disagree with this too. I've experienced nature to be a very reflective sort of atmosphere, whether I'm feeling sad or happy. Going hiking does not suddenly make all of my troubles leave my mind, I may return from nature with a better outlook on what I saw as very problematic before, but not always. Nature can be soothing, but it does not fix everything. I'm all for nature, I grew up on a mountain out west with a father who is a nature photographer. I'm part of a family that appreciates nature very much, but Emerson seems to take it to the extreme. Then again, maybe I'm just not a "poet".
Every sentence of this essay is dripping with Transcendentalism. The opening paragraph of this essay is all about retreating from society to be truly alone with yourself in nature. "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society... But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars." Transcendentalists believed that humankind was pure of heart and if we would only remove ourselves from the distraction of society, man can connect more directly with God. "Standing on the bare ground - my head bathed in the blithe air, and uplifted into infinite space - all mean egotism vanishes." I may not agree with that statement, but it seems to be in line with what the Transcendentalists thought.