Emerson Thoreau and Individualism in Society Essay

Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are still considered two of the most influential writers of their time. Ralph Waldo Emerson, who was a lecturer, essayist, and poet, Henry David Thoreau is his student, who was also a great essayist and critics. Both men extensively studied and embraced nature, and both men encouraged and practiced individualism and nonconformity. In Ralph Waldo Emersons essay Self Reliance and Henry David Thoreaus book Walden and essay Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience), both thinkers speak about being individual and what reforms and changes need to be made in society. Thoreau stayed with Emerson for a while and was affected by his ideas, especially relating to the individual and†¦show more content†¦Thoreau looks at this from another angle in his book Walden: But men labor under a mistake. The better part of the man is soon plowed into the soil for compost. By a seeming fate, commonly called necessity, they are employed, as it sa ys in an old book, laying up treasures which moth and rust will corrupt and thieves break through and steal. It is a fools life, as they will find when they get to the end of it, if not before.(603) He his saying it is against the very beliefs that society holds dear, to conform to society. For if, man is working to lay up treasure on earth he should not be working at all. Another principle expressed by these writers is that of individualism. Society of the time said that the lawmakers had a sense of right and wrong and that their laws should be followed without question or thought. Emerson and Thoreau thought that people should think for them selves first. This is expressed in Thoreaus Civil Disobedience: Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience, then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right. It is truly enough said thatShow MoreRelatedRalph Waldo Emerson And Henry David Thoreau1336 Words   |  6 PagesRalph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are two of the most influential writers of the Nineteenth Century. They influenced the American society and future writers to become an individual through their own writings. Transforming a movement known as Transcendentalism, both Emerson and Thoreau used this simple idea of nature, society and individualism to their advantage. Both used this simple idea to not only understand themselves, but also the world around them. 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