Langer Emerson/Thoreau Blog

Throughout Emerson's "Nature", he argues that there is the possibility of human perfectibility in various contexts. Nature, to Emerson, is a perfect entity, with multiple facets that all contribute to its perfectibility. He urges us to trust the perfection of creation as it is reflected in nature. The state of solitude is projected as a particularly beautiful form of Nature. While in solitude, particularly in the woods where no other soul is around, "all egotism vanishes." The vice that many humans struggle with of greed and egotism are not present and have no way of developing. Within pure nature, we can attain perfectibility. Nature always humanity to get as close as possible to attaining the perfection of the creator.

In Chapter 3 entitled Beauty, Emerson emphasizes the importance on the scene to human action and perfectibility. Pleasure arises from the "outline, color, motion, and grouping" from the scene of nature. What allows man to achieve a sense of perfectibility, though, is its harmony and attachment to the perfect nature. Emerson speaks of Nature as if "she stretcheth out her arms to embrace man" and "bend her lines of grandeur and grace to the decoration of her darling child." Man is the "darling child" of nature. All of it's beautiful gifts are available to him. Even the common man has the possibility of attaining this:

"And in common life, whosoever has seen a person of powerful character and happy genius, will have remarked how easily he took all things along with him, -- the persons, the opinions, and the day, and nature became ancillary to a man."

All of these things can come to support man and push him towards perfectibility. What Emerson is proposing is the possibility of perfect harmony with other persons, opinions, the day, and nature. We can achieve this as the common man. Ancillary means "providing necessary support." This support can help rise man to perfectibility, if he accepts and uses them. Nature may have been created as perfect, but man has the ability to utilize it's tools through many different actions, whether it be through beauty, commodity, and language. Our ability to manipulate nature and use it towards our own perfectibility is how Emerson proposes man can be perfect. 

 Thoreau does not castigate all Americans in his "Civil Disobedience," only the ones who do not stand up for the rights that they believe in. One can be against slavery, but if they also continue to pay taxes to the government as a whole they are still contributing to the institution of slavery. Thoreau does not feel like he is has any obligation to the country or to the government as a whole, that the "only obligation which I have the right to assume is to do at any time what I think is right." He preaches to his audience the importance of contributing to culture by adhering to their own beliefs and actually rebelling against the law. He criticizes those who not stand up for their rights, claiming that the "true place for a just man is also a prison." If this is the case, the government is not functioning correctly. He is arguing for a change in government, not an abolishment of said government. He wants an improvement, and uses his final paragraph to choreograph that improvement. He dreams of a "State at last which can afford to be just to all men." This is ideal. The just man should not be stuck in a prison, but leading and participating the emergence of a strong, unified country. Man can improve towards the ideal through acting upon and staying just to his beliefs, and the State can seek to achieve such an ideal state by fulfilling the"duties of neighbors and fellow men." This type of State would be on its way to a "perfect and glorious state."