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Ralph waldo emerson self reliance theme
What is the importance of self reliance by Emerson
Transcendentalism in the 21st century
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Believing in yourself, believing in the good of others, following your heart, and valuing nature‒ these are all ideas subscribed to by Transcendentalists and Romantics. Some of the most famous of these philosophers include Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau, and while the movement may have died with these thinkers, ideas from these schools of thought still permeate through modern society. An example of this is Mr. Keating, the teacher from Dead Poet’s Society. Mr. Keating is new to an all boys prep school, and he tries to break the almost militant mindset of his class by introducing Romantic and Transcendentalist ideas. By doing so, he encourages his students to think for themselves and to appreciate art and poetry. Mr. Keating demonstrates …show more content…
Keating celebrates the spirit of the individual and encourages his class to do so as well. For example, in the work “Self Reliance”, Ralph Waldo Emerson urges readers to embrace their inner selves, and to trust their own judgement. While, admittedly, Emerson’s whole work could support this romantic belief, one lines sums it up nicely: “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson 6). This line inspires readers to see the independence that is inside them.Emerson suggests there is something in the heart of every person that makes them unique and trustworthy. Likewise, in Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating holds a class session in the school’s courtyard; Keating tells his students to find their own stride by walking around the courtyard however they wanted (Weir). His goal was to invoke a sense of nonconformity and individualism, which is what Emerson was preaching in “Self Reliance”. Keating valued the individualism displayed by resisting the uniformity of society. Another example of this is when Mr. Keating tells his students that despite what they may think, “words and ideas can change the world,” and advised them that “the powerful play goes on, and [his students] contribute a verse” (Weir). The ideas passed from Mr. Keating to his students were based on the teachings of Emerson’s works, as well as other Romantics and Transcendentalists. Keating inspires his students to embrace what makes them unique, because even one person can make a …show more content…
Keating believes in the Transcendentalist idea that every person is inherently good and should follow their own beliefs. Henry David Thoreau said in his book Walden “The intellect is like a cleaver; it discerns and rifts its way into the secret of things” (Thoreau 97-8). In this passage, Thoreau bashed the use of the mind, and insinuated that the right decision is one that you come to naturally without much thinking. This displays the belief that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs (or “gut” instincts). In Dead Poets Society, Todd Anderson, one of Mr. Keating’s students, is debilitatingly shy and adamantly refuses to speak in front of a crowd. When Mr. Keating assigns the students to write a poem and then recite it to the class, Todd is devastated. Todd’s turn finally arrives in class, and Mr. Keating covers Todd’s eyes, then tells him to drown out his classmates and speak from his heart (Weir). Mr. Keating shows that what is inside Todd’s heart is not on display because of his fear. However, Mr. Keating shows that what is inside Todd is good; he also shows that if Todd listens to his instincts, the result will be like a beautiful poem. Additionally, when Mr. Keating takes his students to the courtyard for the walking drill, he compared society to a herd of sheep. He tells his students that it is imperative that they follow their own beliefs and don’t fall victim to “the herd” (Weir). This shows that Keating is encouraging
By reading the Bible, a direct instruction of living life by His word, Christians can find this comfort and happiness. To the boys attending the poetry class, Keating is a source of the same comfort. Because of Keating’s helpful instruction and caring attitude towards the boys, his character resembles the wise image of God. Keating often has to advise the students to practice free will with caution because of society’s dramatic responses to transcendental actions. In one scene, Neil is confronted by his selfish father, who stringently demands his son to not take part in the school’s play. Later, Neil goes to Keating for advice on what choice to make and explains that he is the only person who Neil can really talk to about his true feelings. Keating then tells Neil to honestly tell the narrow-minded father about what he really wants to do with his life. This advice follows the importance of self-reliance. “Insist on yourself; never imitate. Your own gift you can present every moment with the cumulative force of a whole life's cultivation; but of the adopted talent of another you have only an extemporaneous half possession” (Emerson). Neil should be proud of his talent and stay persistent against his father in order to live a life of nonconformity. Just as society denied God’s words before the
In this essay, I will compare the philosophies of transcendentalism and anti-transcendentalism through the writings of Thoreau and Emerson vs. Melville. In Thoreau’s excerpt of “Walden”, he tested the transcendentalist philosophy through experience. Emerson’s transcendental writing style is displayed in “Nature”. In Melville’s excerpt of Moby Dick, he exhibits anti-transcendentalism in his work.
Overall, it appears that Peck's theories on love and discipline provide an effective tool for analysis of relationships between characters in "The Dead Poets Society." This mutual relevance is even supported symbolically, when Professor Keating quotes Robert Frost and his "choosing the road less traveled," which is actually the title of Peck's book.
The movie, Dead Poets Society truly captures the essence of the conformities that children are facing. The difference is letting the hourglass run out of time, or making the best of time, facing tough challenges along the way. Todd Anderson makes the best out of his time thanks to the teaching of Mr. Keating, his beloved English teacher. From a misunderstood adolescent to a courageous man, Todd shows his true colors and releases the inferior thoughts stirring up in his developing, young body. In the end, romanticism crushes idealism with power and envy, showing the eye-opening ways that a teacher can contribute to such a tightly wound academy such as Welton.
Modern day transcendentalists are not easily found anymore in society. It is hard to pinpoint exactly what a transcendentalist is. By being your own self, following your own standards and being yourself, you become transcendental. By looking at the Robertsons’ way of life, they would make a tremendous example of modern day transcendentalists. Their religion, love of nature, and individualism create a transcendental lifestyle.
Many people have theories and philosophies about life in general. There have been hundreds of thousands of books published by many different people on the ideas of people in the past and the present. Transcendentalism falls in amongst all of these ideas. There have been articles, essays, poems, and even books written about this subject. Transcendentalism has effected many people since the philosophy was first introduced. The idea was complex and hard to grasp for many commoners and therefore it was understood by few people, and some would think that the idea was not understood at all and that was part of the idea. Henry David Thoreau once stated about himself, “I should have told them at once that I was a transcendentalist. That would have been the shortest way of telling them that they would not understand my explanations” (Reuben 1).
After seeing the film, Dead Poets Society, the watcher will easily pick up on Transcendental idea’s whether they know it or not. If the viewer is watching this movie for educational purposes or entertainment, it overall demonstrates to the audience many strong ideas that these common writers emphasizes greatly throughout their writing through Mr. Keatings methods of teaching. Lesson’s of three common Transcendental writers, Emerson, Thoreau, and Whitman are taught both directly and subtly by the influential teacher, Mr. Keating. The lessons taught not only impact the boys during the film, but it changes their mindset for the rest of their lives and the audiences. Keating was prosperous in establishing the theories of the writers inside the boys minds which impacted all aspects of their lives for the better.
Even though people listen to music just to hear the melody, music is a way to express certain feelings and think about what the song means to someone personally. 20th century pop artists including Dido, Louis Armstrong, and Garth Brooks reveal transcendentalist values of the 19th century Literary Movement through self-reliance, deliberate living, and importance of nature.
Director Peter Weir, director of The Truman Show, presents the importance of individuality and speaking up in his movie Dead Poets Society, a fictional but realistic story that tells the story of a group of friends at the Wellington Academy prep school and their interactions with their new English teacher, John Keating (Robin Williams). Keating teaches the boys life lessons through some interesting teaching methods that end up changing his students’ approach to life’s challenging situations. Throughout watching Dead Poets Society, I found myself liking the movie more and more as it progressed.
In the movie Dead Poets Society, Robin Williams's character as Mr. Keating the English teacher is a hero. "Carpe Diem, lads! Seize the day! Make your lives drastically. Keating's viewpoints and thoughts on life stayed the same throughout the movie no matter what conflict was occurring. The students that Keating taught were the ones who
Throughout the text Keating connects with people on a personal level through his word choice and tone. This connection with his audience allows him to further develop belonging, and evoke a greater emotional response in his audience. This word choice and tone can be seen in the lines, “We took the traditional lands and smashed the traditional way of life. We brought the diseases. The alcohol. We committed the murders. We practiced discrimination and exclusion. It was our ignorance and our prejudice.”
Neil’s father wants him to become a doctor, but Neils wants to be an actor. He doesn’t stick up for himself and say what he wants, so he commits suicide. Keating gets blamed for this because he told him to do the play, which is what causes his father to be mad at him. Keating tells Neil to not conform to his father’s wishes because it isn’t what he wants. Since, Keating did this he gets fired. This relates to what Emerson writes, “For nonconformity the world whips you with its displeasure” Keating did not let conformity get the best of Neil, but the Headmaster doesn’t agree with this. Keating loses his job because of how he wanted Neil to ignore his father and do what he wished. Even though Keating tells Neil to do this, he does not speak his mind about being fired. He conforms to the fact that he lost his job, even though he should not have. Although, he is still following what he thinks because he says, “There is a time for daring and there is a time for caution. And a wise man understands which is called for”. Keating does not speak up because he knows that there is no reason to fight it. The headmaster will not listen to his thoughts because he does not agree with them. So, Keating just accepts this and moves on. Inside, he still believes them, but knows that society will not agree. This relates to what Emerson writes, “Ah so you shall be misunderstood. Is it so bad then to be misunderstood?” The headmaster does not understand that Neil’s life was affected positively by Keating’s lessons. Keating knows that teaching Neil this lesson truly helped him, and this makes him, still a good
Mr. Keating’s conservative teaching methods however gave these young men another chance at seizing the day and controlling what their futures would hold. As a prior student at Welton, Mr. Keating introduces his students to the Dead Poet Society in which he use to attend in order to understand the overall meaning of life. Meeting at midnight, the students gather at a cave slightly off the premises of the academy to bring back the society and recite poetry which would then further enhance their
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind.” Emerson is a firm believer of maintaining self-reliance and values rather than following the crowd. He also explains that in order to be truly successful in life, a person must make decisions and trust in his or her judgment. In today’s society, teenagers are more likely to not be self-reliant because the teens feel they will be judged for having different beliefs. People today need to realize that they should not conform to be like the rest of the world, they must not depend on the judgment and criticism of others, and people must refuse to travel somewhere in order to forget their personal problems. Through Emerson’s piece, readers are able to reflect on how people in the world today must try to be independent of others and uphold their personal opinions and philosophy.
Dead Poets Society, a movie set in Welton Academy, a rigorous and elite all-boys private school, brings to life the philosophy of transcendentalism through its characters. The philosophy, which believes a person needs to find their individual, unique self and not allow the conformist ways of society to hamper the ability to have self-reliance, is introduced by Mr. Keating, the new English teacher who, through his distinctive teaching methods, exemplifies the transcendentalist idea and breathes life into it. His personification of this philosophy is not only readily welcomed by the boys, but acted upon, consequently impacting his students in a profound manner.