A Woman In The Westward Movement Analysis

The Market Revolution took place between 1800-1840. It was described as a time when new forms of transportation connected different parts of the country resulting in an expansion of the marketplace. Although becoming connected mainly defined this time period, it also represented a great amount of people becoming disconnected. People began to disconnect themselves religiously, socially, and individually. It seemed that during this time period, people became more independent from the “norm.” Around this time, religion played a large role in the communities of the United States. Groups began to have religious diversity, each having their own beliefs on God and claiming they were the correct way. Joseph Smith was a man who started

Some found it difficult to disconnect form this existing life, but once they had survived one their own for a while they learned to appreciate what they were given the opportunity to do. In A Woman in the Westward Movement, the hardships that come with moving westward are spelled out. It discusses how difficult it was to travel west and all of the obstacles they faced just to get to their destination. Once they arrived, even though they did not want to go back where they came from, they had “the want of society, of church privileges, and in fact almost every thing that makes life desirable, would often make me sad in spite of all effort to the contrary.” They recognized that life was noticeably different without the attachment to a society. Moving west allowed the roles in society to disappear. Women who moved west were forced to break away from their natural place in the family and take on a new role as someone who worked hard to build a new life. “but I am satisfied that with all the disadvantages of raising a family in a new country, there is a consolation in knowing that our children are prepared to brave the ills of life.” This showed that even though moving west had a lot of difficulties tied to it, in the end a lot of people benefitted from being disconnected from society. Henry David Thoreau disconnected with society because

In The American Scholar, Ralph Waldo Emerson touches on the topic of “individualism” and saw freedom as “an open ended process of self realization by which individuals could remake themselves and their own lives.” He wanted the people to make their life their own especially scholars because they were still connected to European life. He says, “The scholar is the man who must take up into himself all the ability of the time, all the contributions of the past, all the hopes of the future.” He places the responsibility on the individual to accomplish certain tasks, in this case the scholar is the