[Brooke Walker]

While reading Mrs. Stanton’s Address of Solitude and Self, I found many points that backed up Thoreau’s ideas on Transcendentalism. Stanton stressed the idea of equality of men and women, with a large emphasis on individuality, and personal responsibility. She argued that the best way to find your own individuality is through solitude, in a place where one must rely on themselves to be successful. This idea is expressed through the following quote:”The isolation of every human soul and the necessity of self-dependence must give each individual the right to choose his own surroundings.”  Relating directly to Thoreau, Stanton explains that nature can teach us self dependence, self protection, and self support, which contributes to our understanding of solitude. A contrasting idea between Thoreau and Stanton however is the topic of education. Thoreau firmly believes that a hands on experience of learning is far more valuable than any institution can provide, while Stanton argues that education is key, for women especially, to responsibility and awareness.

in Alcott’s Transcendental Wild Oats, I found the overall tone to be quite satirical of the Transcendentalist experimentation. Alcott describes a family of pilgrims who are trying to create some sort of utopia by farming by themselves and living off of minimal food and clothing. The are extreme vegans, and don’t utilize any form of animal product for any of their needs. “Neither sugar, molasses, milk, butter, cheese, nor flesh are to be used among us, for nothing is to be admitted which has caused wrong or death to man or beast.” The family is clearly against anything they cannot grow from the earth, however many of their crops die from poor farming techniques, causing the family to starve during the winter. Alcott is clearly mocking the claimed benefits transcendentalism is supposed to create as well as the benefits of living in solitude in nature that Thoreau is persuading the reader to idolize.

 

[Brooke Walker]

Thoreau’s outlook on economy and lifestyle seem to downplay the benefits and importance of a college education. By forcibly simplifying his life by living in seclusion amongst nature, he reveals that it is unnecessary to live an overly complex lifestyle. He also makes bold statements that students who study specific subjects in depth will be much more inept in life than someone who has a broader understanding of the world through experimentation and observation. “They (students) should not play life, or study it merely, while the community supports them at this expensive game, but earnestly <i>live </i>it from beginning to end. How could youths better learn to live by at once trying the experiment of living?” Here, Thoreau demonstrates that a college degree is not necessary if one can utilize their environment and resources to live a modest life. He addresses that students may go to college to get a higher paying job and to work, however the benefits of this are poor. Thoreau believes that more money leads to excess possessions, which leads to the want of more material goods, which leads to more labor and so forth. He believes this never ending cycle of the desire of possessions leads to a loss of inner freedom due to the continual devotion to labor. While in some situations this principle may be accurate, I think he isn’t looking at the true values of an education. Students in many cases go to school to learn more about many aspects of life and focus on a subject that they are passionate about. Liberal colleges such as Geneseo offer a broad variety of class subjects which aim to create a more well rounded student, which Thoreau seems to overlook. Many of the passages in the first few chapters of Walden emphasize how much debt students are acquiring, and how little we are benefiting, which I find discouraging.

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