Transcendentalist Quiz

Maugre

"Despite", "notwithstanding," or "in spite of"

What words would normally be considered contradictory to "special good fortune"?

- "Real sorrows" - "Impertinent griefs"

Ant War

- Ants symbolize/resemble human warfare - Red and black ants contended with each other for the wooden chips (red ants were the republicans while the black ants were the imperialists) - Ants fought more resolutely than human soldiers (fought with more pertinacity than bulldogs) - Battle excited Thoreau, as it displayed the ants patriotism and heroism than that in an American battle (Battle of Concord). This undercuts the significance of human history and politics. - Battle cry: "Conquer or die" (neither side retreated in battle) - Mentions relationship between Achilles and Patroclus (depicts how the black ant went to war to avenge the death of his fellow insects) - Thoreau mocks the concerns of the Americans. He admires the way that the ants fought for principle, and ridicules Americans' rebellion against a tax on their tea. He points out the materialism of America and undermines our goals and concerns. Furthermore, he says how the results of the battle are as important to the ants as to those at the Battle of Bunker Hill. But he also undermines this idea by implying that the reasons behind Bunker Hill were not as important, more trivial, as those of the ants who fought for survival

Transcendentalism

- Arose from Romantic movement - Belief in Universal Spirit - Self-reliance/Intuition - Self and Society - Direct relationship with God and Nature - Believed in the unity of all creation and that human nature transcended, or went beyond, ordinary experiences - There was a Universal Spirit that all living things share (God within us) --> every person was divine - When we experience this closeness by trusting intuition, we transcend the limits of our physical senses and come to know higher truths of our existence ---- Key Features - Universal Spirit: Universal spirit gives all life meaning and purpose. Makes mankind divine, and everyone should seek a meaningful relationship with it - Self-Reliance/Intuition: rely on your own heart and moral compass; trust your instinct -- it's from God - Self and Society: Men have the capacity to do good; however, he must change himself before changing society - Direct Relationship with God/Nature - An intimate relationship with Nature brings you closer to God, and experience higher truth.

"A foolish inconsistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall."

- Being consistent with everyone prevents one from making any unique contribution to society. He doesn't get to know his true personality and character since he tries so hard to fit in. Consistency restrains independence and growth. - Small-minded people feel the need to be consistent (never changing their minds on the basis of new information) because they're afraid of the unknown consequences (hobgoblin).

Walden, or Life in the Woods

- By Henry David Thoreau - A series of meditations on what it means to "live deliberately" - Thoreau builds a home on the shores of Walden Pond - His goal is to "simplify" by removing all of the distractions from his life - Doing so enables Thoreau to experience the full richness of life

Nature

- By Ralph Waldo Emerson - First and foremost, a celebration of what nature has to offer - In order to appreciate nature, you must be alone - It's best to view nature with a poet's eyes - In order to appreciate nature, you have to look at its whole being - We must appreciate nature as a child - We become one with the Universal Being - It all comes down to man's choice to seek unity with Nature

Self-Reliance

- By Ralph Waldo Emerson - We are all created to be a particular person - Society has a different explanation of who we ought to be - If we follow society's rules, we only half-express the person we're meant to be - Have the courage to trust your convictions; trust yourself to do what is right

"...occult relation between man and the vegetable....They nod to me and I to them. The waving of the boughs in the storm, is new to me and old....Its effect is like that of a higher thought or a better emotion coming over me, when I deemed I was thinking justly or doing right."

- Enabling nature to take over one's senses gives him the ability to have a higher understanding of his surroundings, actions, and thoughts. Unity with nature makes him a better man. - Antecedent of it: waving - Ironic juxtaposition of the relationship between human beings and vegetation

Conclusion

- Follow your dreams, and you will find success - March to the beat of your own drum

The passage as a whole introduces contrasts between all of the following

- Incipience and antiquity - Pleasure and adversity - Known and unknown - Wilderness and metropolis - NOT plentitude and dearth

"The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."

- Man has innate inner qualities/abilities. He knows what he can do with them, or if not, must try to use them to discover them. He was born with qualities that will make him perfect (come in touch through self-reliance and individuality). - Emerson also establishes idea through the toiling of corn. One must work hard to grow the corn as one must work hard to achieve his potential.

"In the wilderness, I find something more dear and connate than in streets or villages....man beholds somewhat as beautiful as his own nature."

- Man is more connected with nature than the material world (finds qualities in nature that parallel to his own). Nature reflects the inner beauty of man. - Connate: "revered" or "having the same nature"

"I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing. I see all. The currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or particle of God."

- One may lose himself in nature and thus becomes a "transparent eyeball." This transparency allows God to see through him and transmit himself into the person's conscience and make him feel his unity with heaven. - Paradox: "I am nothing" and "I am part or particle of God" - "I am nothing": I am nothing compared to the big picture

Romanticism

- Romantic movement arose from in response to Neoclassicism/moved from political documents to personal/gave rise to purely American topics such as frontier life - Faith in senses, emotion, and imagination - Looked to Nature for the Truth - Favored the subjective, and individual experience became of central interest ---- Major Beliefs - Imagination is an important gateway to transcendent experience and the Truth - Intuition and instinct are more highly valued than rationality and reason - An emphasis on respect for nature, the value of primitivism, and ideal communion with Nature - A fascination with the past, the supernatural, and the mystic - An attraction to rebellion and revolution, individuality, and freedom - An emphasis on introspection and subjectivity of experience

The Loon

- Shows Thoreau's communion with nature (hears the loon ring with laughter = human qualities) - Tried to overtake, in a boat, the loon to see how it maneuvered; but the loon escaped under water and wouldn't appear until the latter part of the day - Thoreau able to catch him when the loon is on the surface - Loon would constantly dive under water and resurface. Thoreau describes the loon's laughter as something demoniac, akin to a water-fowl and sometimes even a howl like a wolf. He infers that the loon is laughing at him because it is confident of its own skills. - The loon shows how everyone has their own strengths and abilities that do not parallel to others. - The loon also emphasizes the spiritual truth and the mysterious complexity of nature.

"Pythagoras was misunderstood, and Socrates, and Jesus, and Luther, and Copernicus, and Galileo, and Newton, and every pure and wise spirit that ever took flesh. To be great is to be misunderstood..."

- These philosophers are mentioned as examples of people who were ignored or suppressed during their lifetimes because their ideas did not resonate with society. - Examples of non-conformists - They developed their own ideas instead of blindly following things presented in books and traditions. They stood up for their beliefs even in the face of scorn. To be great is to be misunderstood means that a man is great when he remains as his own individual self despite the oppression he receives from others.

"Not the sun or the summer alone, but every hour and season yields its tribute of delight; for every hour and change corresponds to and authorizes a different state of mind, from breathless noon to grimmest midnight. Nature is a setting that fits equally well a comic or mourning piece."

- Uses antithesis. Here, Emerson says that nature influences one's state of mind. For example, rain can contribute to one's sadness. However, nature can also counteract with one's mood. For example, sunny weather can make a sad person feel happy. - Juxtaposition of "breathless noon" and "grimmest midnight" stresses the diverse facets of nature

Civil Disobedience

- Written by Henry David Thoreau - Written during his night spent in jail - It is not enough to be ideologically opposed to things like slavery and war; in order to make a difference, a person of conscience needed to act - Thoreau was not opposed to the use of violence against an unjust government

"A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace....In the attempt his genius deserts him; no muse befriends; no invention, no hope."

A man is happy when he puts his best efforts into something. When a person's creativity is gone, there is no hope, as there will be no more innovations or originality necessary for robust. There will no varying ideas, only the same ones.

"Trust thyself: Every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine Providence has found for you."

A man should only trust himself because trusting in other people lacks originality. To rely on others' judgments is cowardly, without inspiration or hope. He should have his own intuition and thoughts as to be an inspiration for other people, unlike others who just follow the lead. He should trust his own heart to guide his own life. Accept the vocation/Truth God has provided.

What does Thoreau compare the government to?

A wooden gun. Even if the consequences ricochet on the people, they would still want a government. Men don't mind having things imposed, as long as they can use them to their advantage.

"In the woods too, a man casts off his years, as the snake his slough, and at what period soever of life, is always a child."

Analogy. A person "sheds" off his years of adversities and hardships in order to start from scratch, just like a snake sheds off its skin to become whole and new again.

The author supports his views primarily through the use of

Antithesis

"Our life is like a German Confederacy, made up of petty states with its boundary forever fluctuating, so that even a German cannot tell you how it is bounded at any moment."

At the time, Germany was not yet a unified nation. Germany was in a constant state of flux, making it complicated to make out the borders. Thoreau makes this comparison to point out that we should also lessen the complexity in our lives by simplifying things.

"Let everyone mind his own business, and endeavor to be what he was made."

Basically, for everyone to mind his or her own business and focus on his/her dreams and aspirations. He should accept and make the most of what he is, not somebody else's idea of how he should handle his business.

"That government is best which governs least; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which I also believe -- 'That government is best which governs not at all'; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have."

Basically, the government should govern as little as possible. It should only interfere with people's lives if absolutely necessary. When men are prepared for a government that doesn't do too much by behaving responsibly and wisely, that will be the kind of government they will have.

"Yet it is certain that the power to produce this delight, does not reside in nature, but in man, or in a harmony of both."

By itself, nature does not provide all the pleasure that comes out of the relationship between man and vegetable. The satisfaction brought forth is a product of the harmony between man's inner senses and and the external world. The way we react to nature depends on the way on how we approach it.

"Speak what you think now in hard words, and tomorrow speak what tomorrow thinks in hard words again, though it contradict everything you say today"

Don't worry about being inconsistent with your beliefs. Speak what you think even if the idea has been changed since the day before. After all, creativity involves the evolution of ideas.

"To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society."

Emerson means to say to detach oneself from home and society - to go into nature and leave behind preoccupying activities.

What might he mean by "the spirit of infancy"?

Emerson refers to the innocence and open-mindedness of a young child.

"...envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide"

Envy is being ignorant since one is not looking at the things and qualities he has that make him different. Instead, he's focusing on other people and not giving himself enough credit. Imitation is suicide because one is not expressing his true self. He eliminates his own character by following the character of others.

Hobgoblin of little minds

Foolish consistency

"I did not wish to live what was not life, living is so dear; nor did I wish to practice resignation, unless it was quite necessary."

He did not want to live a life that he did not choose to do. He did not want to submit to his fate (wants to have control over his own destiny).

What happens during Thoreau's night in jail?

He meets a fellow prisoner who is accused of burning a barn (arson) even though he never did so. He sees various tracts and verses left from former prisoners of the cell, though these thoughts never escaped the prison. Confinement gave Thoreau a strangely novel and intimate view of his hometown. He begins to "see" the institutions and understand what its inhabitants were about.

"The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels. How worn and dusty, then, must be the highways of the world, how deep the ruts of tradition and conformity!"

He reveals the danger of falling into conformity and tradition. Many people fall into it, always following the same path and not making a new path for themselves.

How does Thoreau's perspective on people change after he is released?

He saw the hypocrisy of the townspeople. He viewed that the friendship was "summer weather" only, that people viewed each other as "friends" only for convenient, profitable purposes. They were a distinct race from him with all their prejudices and hypocrisy. He exemplifies their hypocrisy by mentioning a thief -- that they treat the thief as badly as a thief treats them. But he also feels a sense of alienation, as his neighbors feel foreign to him and the villagers greet him with bewilderment.

"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away."

If a man acts or thinks differently from others, it is because he's following the "beat of his own drum," meaning his heart. Man should pursue his own dreams, no matter how far-fetched it may seem to others, because he defines his own success.

"Child" and "youth" are motifs representing what idea in this paragraph?

Innocence, curiosity, purity

"In the woods, is perpetual youth."

Inversion. In nature, a person is able to remain open-minded, curious, and innocent.

"Almost I fear to think how glad I am"

It means "It's almost too good to be true." Emerson uses hyperbole and paradox.

What is Thoreau's perspective on majority rule?

Majority rule is unfair. Majority rule does not always mean it is good for the people, because sometimes majority does not resonate with the minority or moral solution. Basically, the majority isn't always fairest; it is only put up there because it is the strongest.

"Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist....Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind. Absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world..."

Man must not conform. He needs to protect his originality and creativity. His own thoughts and philosophies are sacred and unique. When he follows his own path, he wins the "approval" of the whole world.

"The life in us is like the water in the river. It may rise higher than man has ever known it, and flood the parched uplands....Everyone has heard the story which has gone the rounds of New England, of a strong and beautiful bug which came out of the dry leaf of an old table of apple-tree wood, which had stood in the farmer's kitchen for sixty years...from an egg deposited in the living tree many years earlier still, as appeared by counting the annual layers beyond it; which was heard gnawing out for several weeks...Who does not feel his faith in a resurrection and immortality strengthened by hearing of this? Who knows what beautiful winged life...may unexpectedly come forth from amidst society's most trivial and handselled furniture, to enjoy it perfect summer at last!"

Man's life is compared to a river. Like the river, our ideas bubble over, and we can be creative and at our best. We achieve a higher level of thought and understanding than ever before, and these new ideas keep flooding out. Thoreau also makes it appoint to include the parable of the bug. The lesson of the story is that man can rise up to the surface despite the oppression and of society, that stifles individualism and liberty. This also reveals the theme of self-realization, the idea that we have potentialities yet to explore. People carry the potential inside them, even after years of mindless conformity.

"It is not a man's duty...to devote himself to the eradication of any, even the enormous wrong; he may still properly have other concerns to engage him; but it is his duty, at least, to wash his hands of it, and, if he gives it no thought longer, not to give it practically his support."

Men shouldn't devote themselves for correcting every single wrong in the world, as they have their own priorities to accomplish. However, it is his duty to be completely done with it, to ignore the wrong and give it no acknowledgment. With that said, they shouldn't vouch for the elimination of the whole government, but rather resist certain things that are unmoral or unjust.

"His intercourse with heaven and earth, becomes part of his daily food."

Metaphor. Man's communion with heaven and earth is being compared with daily food. Being in union with nature provides nourishment for the person.

"Within these plantations of God, a decorum and sanctity reign, a perennial festival is dressed, and the guest sees not how he should tire of them in a thousand years."

Metaphor. Men who appreciate nature do not find it tiresome.

Occult

Mysterious or hidden

Of all things that might befall Emerson, what is the one calamity that nature could not repair? Why would such a loss be devastating?

Nature cannot repair the loss of eyes. Without eyes, one cannot see the beauty of nature and thus cannot develop a deeper connection with his surroundings.

"Nature always wears the colors of the spirit."

Nature reflects a person's emotions.

Brute Neighbors

One day, Thoreau starts to observe a "war" between two colonies of ants - The battle he observed was every bit as savage as the battles of men - The ants displayed the same valor as men - What makes out causes and concerns more valid than those of the ants? He also observed a loon - On the surface, he could easily catch it - Underwater, it was much faster - We all have our own version of strength and cleverness

"We mean the integrity of impression made by manifold natural objects [Nature]....There is a property in the horizon which no man has but he whose eye can integrate all the parts, that is, the poet."

One should look at nature through a poet's eyes so they can integrate everything together (looking at nature wholly while keeping in mind the individual parts that make it up). This idea is exemplified in the landscape which is one whole piece made up of many farms.

"Our life is frittered away by detail....Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand"

Our life has too many distractions, for example, cellphones and computers. We are not able to figure out what is most important to us if we are not able to free ourselves from these materialistic temptations. Thoreau wants us to "simplify," to get rid of most of our distractions in order to understand what exactly gives us fulfillment. (Living in a cabin is an example of his simple life).

"And we are now men...and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, reformers, and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort, and advancing on Chaos and the Dark..."

People should be guides and reformers (leaders) to participate in an act of creation that will allow them to bring order out of chaos (unite all these differences).

"Nature says -- he is my creature, and maugre all his impertinent griefs, he shall be glad with me."

Personification. Establishes some sort of intimacy. Nature is able to assert herself that man will find solace in her in times of distress. Personifying nature illustrates the narrator's rather unearthly link to nature

Style

Scholarly and philosophical

"In proportion as he simplifies his life, the laws of the universe will appear less complex, and solitude will not be solitude, nor poverty poverty, nor weakness weakness. If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them..."

Simplification prevents complexity. Put a foundation under your dreams by expanding your thoughts and ideas.

"These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Society is a joint-stock company...to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs."

Society works against an individual, as it eliminates a person's true character. It forces a distinguished person to go mainstream and to not keep his real identity. It demands conformity to erase a person's self-reliance so as to better control him. (People who conform are easier to control).

What inconsistency does Thoreau point out?

Some people are inconsistent with their philosophies and what they do (words don't follow their actions). For example, some men don't support the war for slavery; but they directly (by their allegiance) or indirectly (by their money) still support the cause. So, Thoreau says that people should support their own meanness.

How does Emerson define the "lover of nature"?

The "lover of nature" needs to balance his outer (emotions) and inner (intuition) senses to appreciate the beauty of nature. He needs to retain his naivety and innocence even as an adult.

"The light which puts out our eyes is darkness to us. Only that day which dawns to which we are awake. There is more day to dawn. The sun is but a morning star."

The full possibilities that await us are only achieved if we commit ourselves to achieve them.

"It does not keep the country free. It does not settle the West. It does not educate. The character inherent in the American people has done all that has been accomplished; and it would have done somewhat more, if the government had not sometimes got in its way."

The government doesn't control society by itself. As a matter of fact, it is the American people who had done all that they wanted to accomplish; and they could have done more if the government did not put so much restrictions on them.

"Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient."

The government is a good way to get things done for the good of everyone. However, most governments are usually the opposite, not getting things done which are good for the people.

"I wanted to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life, to live so sturdily and Spartan-like as to put to rout all that was not life..."

The marrow is the most essential part of the bone. As said before, Thoreau wanted to "suck out all the marrow of life" meaning he wanted to grasp all the important stuff in life, and live a life of discipline so as to distinguish what things were not essential to his being.

"Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for, in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure."

The people did not want to go into war, but the small select in the government went to war anyway, thus revealing the abuse in power.

"The government itself, which is the only mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it."

The people want something to get done, but the government is corrupted by officials who neglect their needs and concerns.

Way the passage is narrated

The reader's perspective is limited to Emerson's point of view

According to Emerson, why do most people only superficially see the sun?

The sun illuminates the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of the child. Children try to find the deeper meaning behind the sun (ask why?) while adults don't take a moment to appreciate it. They don't see the sun in the whole scope of things. Reminiscence of childhood helps adults appreciate nature.

"Did you ever think what those sleepers are that underlie the railroad? Each one is a man...The rails are laid on them....so that, if some have the pleasure of riding on a rail, others have the misfortune to be ridden upon."

This is a satirical attack against the capitalist society. Thoreau suggests that we do things so quickly and conveniently that we start to neglect the effects of what these actions have on others. He implies that we should start to view ourselves as a collective whole and start to take responsibility and accountability for our actions.

"The nation itself, with all its so-called internal improvements, which, by that way are external and superficial, is just an unwieldy and overgrown establishment...ruined by luxury and heedless expense...and the only cure for it, as for them, is in a rigid economy, a stern and more that Spartan simplicity of life and elevation of purpose."

Thoreau criticizes all the internal improvements being established during the time because the people divert their attention to the construction. They feel as if the improvements will "improve" them, but its only on the surface. They spend so much money on these improvements, and the solution to this is to reevaluate the purpose of modernization, reject luxury, and live simply.

Where I Lived, and What I Lived for

Thoreau decides to "live deliberately" - To discover what really matters in life - To live a life of purpose To accomplish this, he says, "Simplify, simplify" - Reduce the number of activities and concerns, so that you can pay more attention to each one - In doing so, you'll gain a better understanding of what really gives you fulfillment in life - We are so often controlled by the things that we're meant to control

Why was Thoreau thrown in jail? How did he feel about the government then?

Thoreau did not pay a poll tax for six years. Thoreau starts to resent the government even more. He says how the government doesn't know its friends from its foes, from right or from wrong. He has lost all his respect for the government, and he pities it. Additionally, he felt that he did pay his tax in comparison to all the other townsmen. Basically, he felt as if "he paid his taxes" in a more valid manner due to the fact that he made a conscious decision not to do so. Even though he is in jail, he "does not feel confined", as his thoughts and mind are still roaming free. His thoughts are more dangerous than his actions. The government cannot change the way he feels.

"Some of my pleasantest hours were during long rainstorms in the spring or fall....when an early twilight ushered in a long evening in which many thoughts had time to take root and unfold themselves."

Thoreau enjoys spending time in solitude. The rainy weather prevents him from going outside, enabling him to contemplate on his thoughts and embrace his inner self.

"I am glad to know that it takes a gang of men for every five miles to keep the sleepers down and level in their beds as it is, for this is a sign that they may sometime get up again."

Thoreau is glad that people are resisting industrialization.

"The authority of the government, even such as I am willing to submit to -- for I will cheerfully obey those who know and can do better than I, and in many things even those who neither know nor can do so well -- is still an impure one. To be strictly just, it must have the sanction and consent of the governed. It can have no pure right over my person and property but what I concede to it."

Thoreau is willing to submit to the laws of the land, but the current laws are not honorable and are highly unjustified. So he says that the authority of the government should reside in the people, with their consent and voice. It will never have rule over an individual. He reasserts the supremacy of the individual over the state.

"...I left the woods for as good a reason as I went there. Perhaps it seemed to me that I had several more lives to live, and could not spare any more time for that one."

Thoreau left the woods because he still wanted to find his purpose in life. This shows his contempt for routine, as he wanted to explore other possibilities instead of just sticking to one.

"...I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."

Thoreau lived in the woods to live a life of purpose. He wanted to see what really matters in life. He did not want to live life with regrets, finding out that he did not "live" at all, meaning he did not live the way he wanted to.

"This whole earth which we inhabit is but a point in space. How far apart, think you, dwell the two most distant inhabitants of yonder star, the breadth of whose disk cannot be appreciated by our instruments? Why should I feel lonely?....What sort of space is that which separates a man from his fellows and makes him solitary? I have found that no exertion of the legs can bring two minds much nearer to one another. What do we want most to dwell near to?...the perennial source of our life...this is the place where a wise man will dig his cellar..."

Thoreau points out the intimacy with nature that precludes the feeling of loneliness. The Earth is but a point in space in a vast universe, and the vastness of this universe puts the space between men into perspective. We think that a person on the other side of the world is far away from us, but compared to the whole universe, we are close together. With that said, Thoreau points out that two minds can never be close together, as a person has his own intellectual thoughts, distant from another's. He also says that we should not go to the depot, the post office, etc, places that distract us from everything, but instead commune with nature, the "perennial source of our life."

"Is a democracy, such as we know it, the last improvement possible in government? Is it not possible to take a step further toward recognizing and organizing the rights of man? There will never be a really free and enlightened State, until the State comes to recognize the individual as a higher and independent power, from which all its own power and authority are derived, and treats him accordingly."

Thoreau reveals that democracy is not the last step in the evolution of government. There will never be a free and enlightened state unless the government recognizes the preeminence of the individual. The state should treat the individual with respect and have its power and authority derived from him (the people).

Instead of no government, what does Thoreau ask for?

Thoreau said that having no government is not a good idea. Instead, he just wants a BETTER government. Men should voice out what kind of government they want in order for there to be some kind of response to their plea.

"That if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal, and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around him; or the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense..."

Thoreau says that the key to success to to confidently and optimistically follow your dreams. However, one must sacrifice some of his former ideas in order to gain more insight and a broader understanding of things. He bolsters this argument by saying that his experience in Walden led him to believe that his dreams are achievable.

"I please myself with imagining a State at last which can afford to be just to all men, and to treat the individual with respect as a neighbor....A state which bore this kind of fruit...would prepare the way for a more perfect and glorious state...but not yet anywhere seen."

Thoreau urges for the government to treat the people with respect and dignity. This kind of government will surely then move toward a more perfect and enlightened state. However, Thoreau has yet to see this development.

How does conscience play into majority rule?

Thoreau vouches for a government that is based on conscience, not what is virtually right or wrong. A man shouldn't let his conscience, or understanding of right and wrong, be overridden by the government. It is not desirable to follow the law if it is against the conscience of a person.

Solitude

Thoreau welcomes the opportunity to experience solitude in the wilderness - The Earth is one tiny point in an immeasurably expansive universe - In that perspective, even two people on opposite ends of the world are relatively close together - Besides, no matter how close two people are, their minds will always be separate. Why should we resent this?

"I am not solitary while I read and write, though nobody is with me."

Though no one is present while he is reading or writing, there is still an invisible entity. For example, when reading a fiction novel, he is in the company of the characters in the story; likewise, for a non-fiction, he is attuned to the author's mind and thoughts. Basically, no one is physically present, but the minds and thoughts of the characters/author are.

What does Thoreau say about trade and commerce?

Trade and commerce are two facets that the government keeps on putting harm to. If someone were to judge the legislators of their actions imposed on trade and economy, they would surely be put into jail.

"We do not ride on the railroad; it rides upon us."

We think that because we built the railroad, it is under our control. However, in actuality, the railroad controls us because we depend on it.

"But if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars....will separate between him and vulgar things. One might think the atmosphere was made transparent with this design, to give man, in the heavenly bodies, the perpetual presence on the sublime."

When a man looks at the stars (or nature), he separates himself from all the worldly things. The stars help him experience the presence of the sublime (God). We still retain our sense of wonder and awe even though we are already familiar with seeing the stars.

"The American government -- what is it but a tradition...endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity?...for a single man can bend it to his will."

Why would we continue with the system of a government if each generation it loses some of its integrity? It doesn't take a whole group to abuse the whole system; but one man can control the government to his will despite the objections of the people.