Transcendentalism

The Perversion of the American Dream

The oracle of transcendentalism, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and his acetic companion and one-time roommate Henry David Thoreau (that's correct, when Thoreau got tired of sleeping in the forest, he moved in with Emerson and his family for a few weeks) both had a lot to say about man, nature, the nature of man, and the communion between nature and man, which if properly exploited can lead to great personal gain.

Emerson and Thoreau were great thinkers, philosophers, and purveyors of the English language and their work, although long-winded and at times tortuous, helped to define and shape the American dream. However, in recent years, their instructive thoughts and musings on certain tenets of the American dream, i.e. self-reliance, self-reflection, and critical thinking, have been subverted by 21st century avarice and greed. It is the purpose of this paper to investigate how many of...
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