November 8

We will be checking out the novel Huckleberry Finn today.  If you read the novel carefully, you will see a couple of similarities between Twain's philosophy and that of the Transcendentalists.  Twain is both a Romantic and a Realist, so this book forms a nice bridge between the two literary movements.

Tomorrow you have a vocabulary test, words 31-60
Scarlet Letter Vocabulary
Homework: Finish your Walden reading--the conclusion as well as 10 pages of your choosing.
Homework: Walden poster due Monday, November 19th.  Start thinking about your photo choice
Homework: Walden quotes due Friday, November 16th.

Watch Dead Poets' Society tomorrow

Write your ten examples and briefly state the connection to Transcendentalist ideas.  Due at the end of the period
Mr. Keating  Oh Captain, my Captain
Neal Perry
Todd Anderson (protagonist)


Transcendentalism

• praises individual worth over society
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits
• heart over mind.  Following your heart is more important than
• belief in living in harmony with nature
• great dignity in manual labor; the common man is the true hero
• praise for the simple life; criticism for reliance on material possessions
• relationship with God should be personal
• value for revolutionary thoughts and ideas
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• focus on individual responsibility for developing a moral code
• value for intense feeling; Transcendentalists feel deeply and value that
• powerful emotion.
• belief that Nature is the Great Teacher
• optimism

The Dark Romantics--Poe and Hawthorne--have a worldview that is, on the one hand very different from that of the Transcendentalists, and on the other, similar at its foundation.  I've reprinted the principles of transcendentalism, but this time I've changed them to show that the Dark Romantics take a similar view but put a dark, pessimistic tone to it.  The focus is still upon mankind and intense personal feeling, but . . .

• The individual doesn't fit into society because he's damaged
• shows contempt for attachment to social customs and habits 
• Nature is malevolent; mankind struggles with his inner demons
• The common man is the subject of the stories, and the protagonist is evil
• The protagonist has a dark relationship with dark forces within (no God in these stories)
• The protagonist has revolutionary thoughts and ideas, but they're twisted
• rejection of customs, especially traditional European ones
• the individual moral code is twisted and is at odds with society's values
• value for intense feeling; stories are all about the heart and psychology
• there is no Great Teacher.  The protagonist has no moral center.  He is alone
• Pessimism