by Xi Lin

Created on: May 26, 2008

The Unfounded Accusation

A student is a baby. She is an unscathed divine ready to be molded by a teacher. While watching the development of a young infant, it is noticeable that experience and community greatly shape the outcome of her identity. While the student learns the ways of the teacher, she can take ideas and formulate works of her own. The student is still an individual with autonomy to do as she pleases. Just as no two humans are the same, no two identities expressed on paper are the same. Even the student-teacher relationship between Thoreau and Emerson does not serve as an exception to this rule. The philosophical content in Emerson and Thoreau's works may overlap at times, but the critical differences in writing style clearly render their works distinct.

The philosophical content of Thoreau and Emerson's works are comparable for they both belong to the same Transcendentalist movement. They both speak of nature as an ideal heaven and that people should sever themselves from society to explore it. In the chapter titled Solitude, Thoreau gives his thoughts about ostracizing himself for nature: "the whole body is one sense, and imbibes delight through every pore. I go and come with a strange liberty in Nature, a part of herself" (Thoreau 200). The unique experiences that can be gained through excluding oneself from society and exploring nature is also supported by Emerson: "To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God which had been shown" (Emerson Nature 1517). The city that God has created is our natural world and it is our duty to explore it. Other resemblances between Thoreau and Emerson are visible when they reference credible thinkers and legends. Thoreau references the classics of "Vedas and Zendavestas and Bibles, with Homers and Dantes and Shakespeares" (Thoreau 182). Emerson displays this same array of knowledge when describing nature: "The dawn is my Assyria; the sun-set and moon-rise my Paphos, and unimaginable realms of faerie" (Emerson Nature 1520). While Emerson and Thoreau both share immeasurable historical knowledge and similar philosophy, these factors are not sufficient to allege piracy. To copy another person's work is to advocate it as one's own. Not only does this require analogous content, but also parallel writing style and motivation. Mimicking others is seen as wicked because it rids the novelty of the original piece,

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