Sauntering Circuitously: Thoreau and American Studies Brodie Miles WHS

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1 Sauntering Circuitously: Thoreau and American Studies Brodie Miles WHS This unit is designed to work with an American Studies course where both English and History are taught in one class. The particular course I teach is for juniors and begins historically with the reconstruction of the Unites States after the Civil War. Yes, I realize that Thoreau occurs in time before the Civil War, but he serves as an excellent connection with the cause of the war, the following reconstruction, and the development of the west. As I teach the English half of the class the following lessons will focus more on the philosophy of Thoreau and how it is reflected in time. I realize that the curriculum I have to follow will most likely not match that of any other school, so please feel free to glean what you can from the rather circuitous outline of lessons that follow. This course of study will utilize readings from: Civil Disobedience, A Plea for John Brown, Walking, (All in the Dover Publications edition) and Walden (Oxford World Classics edition), as well as the short stories The Outcasts of Poker Flats (Brett Harte), Plainswoman (Williams Forrest), and an excerpt from Wallace Steiger s Angle of Repose. Various poems from American Indian tribes such as the Tewas, the Havasupais, and the Taos Pueblos will also be used which I found in the McDougal, Littell American Literature Text (yellow level). Massachusetts Standards Covered In The Outline of These Lessons: Standard 1: Discussion Standard 2: Questioning Standard 8: Understanding a Text Standard 9: Making Connections Standard 12: Fiction Standard 13: Non-Fiction Standard 15: Style and Language Standard 19: Writing Assessment of Students will take place by evaluating their writing, involvement in discussion, and completion of homework assignments. This unit will address: Thoreau and transcendentalism The concept of the wild, The concepts of higher law, as well as the idea of the banality of evil How Thoreau and these ideas connect to the movement west, American Indian philosophy, Romanticism and the poetry of Walt Whitman. By the end of the unit students will: Have an understanding of the philosophy of Thoreau (the wild, higher law, views on the environment and place) Connect Thoreau s philosophy with the Civil War, Reconstruction and the move west, as well as the philosophy of the American Indian and Romanticism. Contemplate their own existence Contemplate the existence of their own place (community)

2 Understand how the literature connects and reflects the times in which it was written, as well as its relevance to today Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? -Mary Oliver I. Introducing Thoreau without Freaking Kids Out I plan on beginning this unit by not freaking out my students with the word transcendentalism (but I ll get to that soon enough). Using the below quotations I plan on having my students attempt to figure out Thoreau and his ideas for themselves without any real background on the man. A few lines to highlight the point of how Thoreau views the world can be found in Walden, where Thoreau writes that you should know yourself as, the universe is wider than our views of it (285). He also says, most of the luxuries, and many of the so called comforts of life, are not only not indispensable, but positive hindrances to the elevation of mankind (15). And finally, The life which men praise and regard as successful is but one kind (19). Using the above quotations ask students to think about what kind of life this man lead, and the ideas he believed in (placing him in the correct historical time of course). After you ve had a conversation where you have highlighted their correct guesses, you can proceed to fill in the blanks on Thoreau. Such as: Quote 1: Transcendentalism was a reaction to the way divinity was taught at Harvard. It was taught that miracles etc. happened in the past. Emerson, Thoreau etc. believed that nature, experience, life (on their own, or coupled) at the present time were all miracles. Thus each person could experience miracles. This took the authority of the preachers away and placed an emphasis on the importance of living your own life to experience it, for that is what truly matters. Thus transcendentalism - Truth is what YOU know to be a fact without observing it you transcend experience, and go with your own feelings on the matter, no one has to tell you that it s right or wrong, you just know it! (i.e. murder) Quote 2:Walden basically shows that Thoreau is skeptical of progress, industrialization, commerce and the accumulation of wealth and land. He wishes to simplify life and imitate the economy of nature so that life can be lived and experienced, not spent working it away as a slave to land and wishes for material goods.

3 Quote 3: Thoreau lived a life that others thought a bit strange. He walked a minimum of four hours a day (usually 4-6) where he observed the environment and ruminates. He lived in a small house he built at Walden Pond for two years (beginning on July 4, 1845 Independence Day). Students will have a better grasp on Thoreau s difference after you have taught the next few sections of the lesson. II. Freaking kids out - Question of Existence People tend to not question their existence because everything seems to be working fine, or following the course it should follow. Question for Students: What is Thoreau attempting to transcend? Why did he want to transcend? Read sections of Thoreau s Economy (In Walden) page six I see men to page eight, Yet we do not treat A nice bit of fact to impart: Thoreau was a multifaceted individual in the sense that he was: A writer and philosopher A Surveyor A Teacher A pencil maker at his father s pencil business An inventor (he developed innovations with the pencil!) An ecologist Question for Students: Why do you live life the way that you do? This is going to be an overarching question in my class for the entire year. I plan on simply introducing them to thinking this way and then delving into more as we hit Hemingway/Existentialism and World War I later in the year. III. The Wild or Unity of Spirit or God or Connections within the Universe Thoreau never wrote about God, however he did write about the wild, a concept of a unity of spirit which basically stated that there was no difference between the individual and what was happening in nature. A nice point to make to students is that we don t understand 95% of what happens in our own bodies. You get a cut, it scabs over, heals and voila! You re as good as new but the connection with nature is inherently in the process, and we take that process for granted. This oneness this wild this sacred is the unity of everything and Thoreau wanted to bring this to the forefront of our thinking and living. Thoreau writes in his essay Walking, In wildness is the

4 preservation of the world (61). This wild is transcendent nature; it threads us all together. Thoreau was bothered by people being measured solely for their economic value (later on you can connect this to the misplacement of value in the world in connection with the move west). Question for Students: Is Thoreau s idea of the wild new? Does it have modern connections? Thoreau s ideas have been around for a long while. Hassidic Jews followed the tenant that god is in the rocks and in the trees. Also American Indians had an extremely close connection with the land (more on this in the moving west section). Read sections from Walking (61-66), The West of which I speak is but another name for the wild to The wildness of the Savage is but a faint symbol. Thoreau turns nature and wilderness into something that is to be feared (read Hawthorne- Young Goodman Brown etc.!), conquered, tamed, used, into something which represents LIFE- something to be revered. Nature is the wild, which is life, genius, freedom, and imagination. It is something that runs through and connects everything. Civilization rules and kills the wild. People who live closer to the land (Thoreau) can t view civilization the same as those ensconced in society. Read Walking (52-53), Moreover you must walk like a camel to It will never become quite familiar to you. Read The Ponds ( ), Flints Pond! Such is the poetry of our nomenclature to a brave attempt resounds Student Connections: Have students link ideas of transcending, the question of existence, and the wild. You can have them link Thoreau s ideas with their own lives (whether they jive with him or not), or create a portrait of someone that does. Do they know anyone that could be described as a practicing transcendentalist? Is it possible in today s world? Possible homework assignments: Have kids take a walk and ruminate can they walk without being intruded upon by thoughts of the outside world? Can they simply perceive a place for itself and not let the world affect their view of it? This should be an experimental/experiential-type exercise, which they can write about. -Or- Have students find the wild in their community. This can really be any place where connections with nature occur (which is really anywhere). However, if students can find a bit of nature, be it a weed in a crack in their driveway, or a spot in the woods, they can observe it carefully. Perhaps they can make an observational drawing of what they find there and discuss its connection with them, with the larger world etc.

5 IV. Connections with Uncle Walt, Read: I hear American Singing, I Sing the Body Electric, By Blue Ontario s Shore Student Activity/Discussion: After reading the poetry of Walt Whitman, what do you think each of the poems connect with in regard to Thoreau s writing? Do they fit into Thoreau s ideas? Later you can discuss if Whitman s poems connect with the Civil War, and if they touch on ideas prevalent in the movement west. Discuss Romanticism and its connection with Transcendentalism. Impart that Romanticism was a reaction against the age of reason. The individual experience is important, thus everyone has chance in life. How does Thoreau fit into all of this? Student Activity: Thoreau vs. Whitman. Have students select their favorite passages from only one of the authors. Students should write a paragraph on why the selection they chose is: a) a strong idea, and b) strongly written, impassioned. Students will face off reading first the lines of the author and then their explanations. A panel of judges a la American Idol will choose the victor. V: The Civil War and the Idea of a Higher Law Question for Students: So if God doesn t come into Thoreau s plan what differentiates between right and wrong? How do you differentiate? The Wild or the unity of spirit is part of your conscience and should be obeyed according to Thoreau. If you truly listen to your conscience, not to your ego etc. then the laziness of the naysayers can be put off. Question for Students: What do you think Thoreau thought about the fugitive slave law? Read excerpts from A Plea for Captain John Brown (33, 36-37) In his camp to a life of exposure (33). When we heard at first he was dead to Accordingly they pronounce this man insane (36-37). Also Thoreau states the only government that I recognize and it matters not how few are at the head of it, or how small it s army, - is that power that establishes justice in the land, never that which establishes injustice (43). Thoreau likes John Brown because: He fully embraces a cause, which he knows is right, thus he is living according to higher law, a higher moral standard. He is committed to true justice

6 His adherence to the constitution leads him to fight State sponsored injustice Thoreau rails against those leading dead lives (those men famously leading lives of quiet desperation ) The idea that once one person resists, everyone has to make a conscious choice about the matter at hand. Thus, one person can change the world Student Task: Write a Plea for someone. Michael Jackson? Kobe? George Bush? Saddam? Does anyone maligned today (as was John Brown) deserve a feverish plea for his or her true character? VI. Higher Law and Civil Disobedience Question for Students: What s wrong with the world today and how do you contribute to it? This question leads us into the realm of Thoreau s men leading dead existences. Those Christian men and women of his time who prayed every night, lead their lives according to the Bible, but still knew of wrongs being committed, and did nothing at all about them (Fugitive Slave Law, etc.). This leads us into Thoreau s essay Civil Disobedience, as he was arrested for not paying a poll tax that would contribute to the Mexican War, which Thoreau saw as directly contributing to slavery. Thoreau s family had a tradition of being abolitionists and their home was a stop on the Underground Railroad which again, was an aspect of higher law the moral obligation god/spirit/conscience is what should be obeyed, not the government if it s in the wrong. Read: Civil Disobedience (originally titled Resistance to Civil Government) 1 to bottom of 2, at the service of some unscrupulous man in power. Question/Connection for Students: Why was the title changed? Connections with a Plea for John Brown and the causes of the Civil War can be made. What are they? Where does the questioning of existence come in during wartime? (Connections with MLK abound in this tract and I plan on going into more detail with it later in the year during our civil rights unit). VII. Misplacement of Value and the Move West Activity for students: List everything of value or importance in your bedroom. What do you need? What is the minimum you need to live? What is the minimum you need to survive? Question for students: What concept do you have of life during the 1800 s in the west?

7 Read: Outcasts of Poker Flats Bret Harte, A Selection from Wallace Steiger s Angle of Repose and Williams Forrest s Plainswoman. Question for Students: What aspects of these stories would Thoreau agree with? Ideas to discuss: The misplacement of value in the world i.e. Thoreau s ideas that higher law should be followed, Life should be simplified, that materialism will derail you from experiencing life as truth The wild should be heeded (wild as unity, as environment, the fact that Thoreau uses the West as a metaphor for the wild -61,62) What is life in the west centered on? The displacement of American Indian culture Discuss Place and Thoreau. The idea that place/living/existence all go hand in hand. Read American Indian Poetry: Sun My Relative (Havasupai), I Went to Kill the Deer (Taos Pueblo), I have killed the Deer (Taos Pueblo), A War God s Horse Song (Navajo). Question for Students: What aspects of these stories would Thoreau agree with? Student Activity: Have students write modern day poems patterned after the ones that they have read that reflect their own communities and beliefs. Question for Students: How do you connect to nature? How did the town you live in grow from the wild? What was on the grounds of the school before it was a school (in our case, a swamp)? Discuss the fact that every place has a sense of history about it, whether there is a plaque marking a historical event or not. Place is important as it shapes who you are and what you experience. Someone living in Bangladesh will live differently simply because they come from a different place, with a different history. Thoreau wanted to focus on learning whatever he could from where he was at NOW. He didn t move back to Walden, because he had experienced it for two years and needed something different to stimulate him. Question for Students: Who is going to live in the town they live in now, as an adult after college? If not, where will you live? Why? Hammer home the point that place will make them what they want to be. Student Activity: Document plant, animal, insect life on your campus. It will be amazing what you will find. Then connect to your community and town. How did America s connection with the land become lost? Discuss the effect of the west on America s culture and conscience. Ideas can range from the idea of the independent

8 self, the hard worker, the conqueror of land etc. Do these ideas still ring true? What was/is the cost? (And we loop back to ideas of higher law, environment, the Wild, Whitman and the question of existence!). Does this have an affect on the individual, or are we immune to historical culture? Does it matter where you are from? (And there s the connection with immigration and my link to the next unit, which begins with Stephen Crane s Maggie, Girl of the Streets! By this time I ll have been teaching Thoreau and his connections well into October, and I will continue to do so by following up immigration with Hemingway s A Farewell to Arms (existentialism) and connecting back to Thoreau via Martin Luther King Jr. and the Civil Rights movement the idea of Thoreau in American Studies really doesn t have a defined end, which is great for me as a teacher, but a bit troublesome when writing lesson plans!).