Materialism In Ralph Waldo Emerson And Henry David Thoreau

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau are both famous nineteenth century essayists from new England, Connecticut. They are famous for starting the transcendalist movement in the US. Throeau is best known for his book Walden where he talks about the simple life he lives in near a pond named Walden. Emerson, on the other hand, wrote the famous essay “Self Reliance.” Through Thoreau’s chapters “Economy” and “Where I lived and what I lived for” and Emersons essay “Self Reliance”, it can be seen that there are some similarities between the two essayists: they both were against materialism and instead, enjoyed nature, they both disliked society and they both had similar opinions on philanthropy. Emerson and Thoreau both rejected materialism. While Emerson repeatedly just stated in his essay that materialism is undesirable to someone who wants to achieve freedom, Thoreau actually rejected materialism by building his own house near Walden pond where he lived for more than two years. Thoreau wanted to show people that life without materialistic possessions was possible and that a person could live with just the basics. He points “Laying up treasures which…show more content…
Emerson also goes to the extent of saying that “philanthropy is an excuse for the shortcomings in a man” (15). Both of these writers believe that men are charitable because being charitable is viewed as being good by the society, and thus men are obliged to give charity even if they aren’t necessarily willing to do so. In a similar way, Thoreau believes that it is more important to be good and to do good. His essays reveal that it is more important for a person to be a good human being instead of donating charity to appear “good” in the society. In conclusion, both of them believe that philanthropy is just a show and people should start being more
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