11/13/02

U.S. Literature

Thoreau vs. Emerson

Assignment

Emerson the See-er; Thoreau the Doer

Working Together to Mold Minds

1. "The popular fable of the sot who...on his waking, treated with all the obsequious ceremony like the duke...symbolizes so well the state of man, who is in the world a sort of sot, but now and then wakes up, exercises his reason and finds himself a true prince."

Thoreau often talks about what it means to be awake, to take full advantage of experiences and find truth. For example in this quotation from "Self Reliance" to be in the "state of man" I think that Emerson is talking about how a lot of the time we are not truly awake and using our opportunities to enrich life. Thoreau mentions (on page 72) that only one in a million men are awake, only one in a million men...