"If a plant cannot live according to his nature, it dies; and so a man" (Emerson, Civil Disobedience, 260). Transcendentalism, as expressed by Emerson, is finding your own way to connect with yourself, who you are, and your peace with yourself. Your ... human functions based on all their frivolous details. "If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps, it is because he hears a different drummer" (Thoreau as cited in Lawrence & Lee, v). The path to transcendentalism is meant to be different for every being that travels it. It is supposed to be what fits ... no basis for an instit...

• Word Count: 1271
• Approx Pages: 5
• Grade Level: High School

... that people should not always follow what the majority of society feels. Thoreau had many different beliefs than the others in the American society. He felt that people must be free to act upon their own idea of right and wrong. In "Civil Disobedience", he said that people should not obey any law they think is unjust. This essay greatly influenced many leaders ... of the American civil rights movement, such as Martin Luther King Jr. Thoreau also wrote Walden, a book in which he wrote in the woods by himself from July ... 4, 1845 to Sept. 6, 1847. He insisted that the book was written t...

• Word Count: 880
• Approx Pages: 4
• Grade Level: High School