The Night Thoreau Spent In Jail

Emerson created maxims, which are short statements expressing a general truth, to express his way of Transcendental conduct and what he believed applied to mankind. His Transcendental way of thought consisted of showing conviction of individual thinking and looking towards nature for organic feeling. These maxims appear throughout the play, "The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail", as the story unfolds around the life of main character Henry and his ordeals that arise resulting from following his own path. Emerson's maxim "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind" speaks the importance of acting out as one deems fit instead of doing what others want. This comes from Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance” in which he retells a story from

In a scene where Henry teaches Edward how to find huckleberries, he explains, "The best huckleberries have a sly way... of being... exactly... where... you... are... standing!" Henry then proceeds to pick up a huckleberry and lets Edward taste it. However, these huckleberries are not real and are only played out through their imaginations. Henry demonstrates the maxim by keeping his divine integrity and enjoying the fun of finding imagery huckleberries even if they are not real. Divine is described as a state of being pure, individual, and supremely good; Emerson’s meaning of divine is incorporated in the imaginary huckleberries by fusing nature and the nature of one’s constitution. It is not the literal sense of the matter that is important but the idea and concept. Outsiders would think it is ridiculous that Henry and Edward are out chasing nonexistent berries. However, the fact of whether or not the huckleberries are real is not significant; what truly matters is that the berries have meaning to them and no one can tell them otherwise therefore making the berries sacred. Huckleberries stand for his imagination and free thinking, and both concepts are what Henry values. To be sacred, one must have the characteristics of being holy and important. The huckleberries are sacred because they are important to

He defies the system of education by leaving the institution and starting his own school. He did this because he believed following a set system with rules would hurt his integrity. This similar act plays out in the novel, The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne. In the novel, main character Hester Prynne cares for her child despite what others think. She puts little importance to the townspeople's ridicule and judgement and continues to walk through the marketplace with her head held high. Hester keeps her integrity and continues to focus on her most important goal, which is to look after her daughter Pearl and give her all the love she deserves. Like Henry, Hester showed strength through her determination of keeping her strong moral principles and making her own decisions. Despite being judged and hated, Hester stayed sane and together because she had her integrity and knew the importance of defying against all external forces to be able to stick to what she believed