Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature)

     It seems as though the idea of transcendentalism continues to pop up with every reading that we do.  This is, of course, because it is such a large part of the way these others thought at the time.  The idea of nature is brought of up in the first reading we did of Emerson's, but is brought into much more detail in the reading of "Nature."  The analogy that Emerson uses about accessing the spiritual world through nature seemed really interesting to me because I think nature is the closest thing to creation and God.  However, there is an evident disconnect between nature and the soul.

     Another interaction the Emerson shows with nature is it's relationship to art.  Art becomes so insignificant that it is not distinct from nature itself.  There are four classes of nature.   Commodity, which is temporary, useful, and practical.  Beauty, natural world, in and for itself, delight, and spiritual.  Language, analogy, simplistic, and naive.  Disciple, understanding and reason and ultimate goal.  There are also some Romanticism qualities in the work, such as, live naturally versus book.

Ralph Waldo Emerson (The American Scholar)

     I really like the theme in "The American Scholar," of "live life" rather than follow others.  It seems as though following other can often times become far too easy.  When one begins to live life apart from following others they can then begin to experience what the world has to offer.  I also noticed that being active and creative becomes a part of that as well.  What of the first ideas that I noticed was roles which include, the Liberal Arts.  I see Emerson's idea that we have to become the functions that we serve.  The metaphor he used was the difference between a farmer and a man farming, which is the second is individual. 

     The second thing that I noticed with this was the section on Estates.  There were four sub-points in this section, the first being nature, the second mind of the past, the third action, and the forth duties.  The idea of nature was expanded by including the connection between the spiritual world and the natural world.  Emerson also connects this in with the ages of human history.  Which include, classical-child, romantic-youth, and philosophical- adult.  This made sense to me because as we get older we do become more philosophical about life.

Washington Irving (Rip Van Winkle)

     The first thing I noticed about "Rip Van Winkle" was the humor hidden within it.  I chuckled about his lack of enjoyment in marriage and yet he is very well liked by the children in the town.  Rip Van Winkles personality also stuck e as intriguing.   On was hand, he is very charismatic and well like by the community.  Yet, on the other hand, he is not invested in working around the house and his wife hates him.  He seem also oblivious to life and he only care about chatting it up with his neighbors and friends around town.

    There is a shift in the story after Van Winkle's twenty years of sleeping that seemed to me like the moral to a very tale.  Van Winkle begins to care more about his life and family in general.  He is choosing to be busier and begins bustling around town.  There is evidence in the second half of the story that he is reinventing his path in life and becoming better.  I also enjoyed noticing the subtle changes in the people becoming citizens of this new country.

Carnival Post 1700-1820

During our unit on "The Enlightenment" we have read a variety of authors ranging in topics from sermons to self help narratives.  Each of the blogs have expressed how our class perceived various authors.  While each blog is worth reading here are a few that can be referenced for further insight on each author.  Four authors really stood out to me as making a strong impact on the Enlightenment period, as a whole.

Johnathan Edwards

If you found Johnathan Edwards' Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, intriqueing because it dealt with a new way of looking at Christians, without sugar coating anything, you should check out Tanisha's Blog.  She points out how it is important to see the greatness of God and not His possible desire to punish us.

Benjamin Franklin

Benjamin Franklin was a man with a plan.  If you found him to relate to your need to have every minute of your day mean something, then you should check out Julia's Blog.  Here she talks about Franklin's chart measuring his success rate and what she found interesting about his need to be successful.

John and Abigail Adams

John and Abigail Adams communicated for almost 10 years of their lives through letters to each other.  In class we read a few of these letters and talked about how this communication worked and did not work.  We also discussed the lack of affection shown between the two.  Nicole's Blog talked a lot about this lack of affection, she says, "It did not seem like they had much affection for each other but I guess how much affection can you show in a letter?"  This is very interesting, check out the rest of her blog to see what she thinks!

All of the authors we read had something amazing to say, however, these four authors seemed to be able to capture the new period in their own unique ways.

J. Hector St. John DeCrevecoer

     I thought that DeCrevecouer had some very valid ideas about America in his narrative.  I thought his idea that once everyone is in America their heritages begin to blend together is very true, even today.  The idea that the English, Irish, Scotch, German, Swedish, etc. all sort of become one mixed group that describe all Americans is happening just as much in the 21st Century as it was in the 18th and 19th Centuries.  Certain aspects of the cultures that come over to America seem to fade away as communities come together.  Recently I took a human relations class that dealt with the ideas of American cultures and the melting pot idea.  I thought that the idea of every culture sort of melting together to form the unique American culture is a fabulous idea.  However, America today still has prejudices that started to form in the early days of the country.

     DeCrevecouer also talked about the same thing happening with religions.  I think that America is absolutely a place where people can be free to be a part of any denomination they choose.  The idea that all religions will be allied is certainly a positive of American culture.  However, like with races, religions are still victims of prejudice.  Christianity has been guilty in the past of claiming that they the superior religion.  I am Christian, however, I still respect other religions completely.  There is still work to be done for all religions to be perfectly allied.

John and Abigail Adams

     I really liked the letters from John and Abigail Adams for a variety of reasons.  First, I liked that theses letters were deeply personal and probably not intended for us to see.  I thought that most of the time they seemed pretty dry towards each other and did not share much emotion.  However, there were instances when I could tell that they really did worry about each other.  I cannot imagine how hard it would be on a relationship to be apart for that long.  Especially, since at the time there were many diseases that were going around and they must have both been very scared for the others safety. 

     Second, I though that there was a different tone in these letters than in the previous pieces we have read.  It is clear that Abigail is concerned primarily for her husband's well being and also the health of her children.  While John is driven by his ambitions, however, still gets distressed when he does not hear how his children are doing after their smallpox sickness.  I would like to know more of whether or not Abigail was ever frustrated by the fact that John was off doing his own thing all of the time.  It is clearly a, period of time, situation.  I think that today a marriage would never be able to sustain such a long separation.  At the time I think that women had to just accept whatever that men decided, which is no longer the case today.

Benjamin Franklin

    I found Benjamin Franklin's narrative intriguing in a variety of ways.  First, simply what he came from and how far he got is very inspiring.  The idea of being a "self-made man" is so admirable because he was literally poor and some how rose to be one of the most remember people in U.S. history.  What adds to this is that he was able to step out of the shadows of his family and do things his own way.  I think of this time period as very controlled and people always had to go by the rules.  However, I think that Franklin had to courage to kind of put that aside and focus more on himself and take pride in the things he knew he could accomplish. 

     Second, I found his obsession with trying to perform his day to day tasks in meaningful ways was also very interesting.  When I stop and think about my day I never take the time to think about who I have impacted and what I have done to help anyone else.  It seems so selfish when I think about it in retrospect.  However, I think that the ways in which Franklin was trying to control all of the things going on in his life down to the minute is unrealistic.  No one can be completely perfect all of the time.  I think that after Franklin's research he was able to see more closely how impossible it is to live that way constantly.  He was filled with self determination and I think that is what causes him to want to be that perfect member of society all of the time.