Stowe, Thoreau, Douglass, Whitman

Tom's Sacrifice and the Power of Forgiveness

Legree orders his men to kill Tom. As Tom is dying, he forgives the overseers (sorveglianti) who beat him, and both men became Christians. Very shortly before Tom's death, George Shelby arrives to buy Tom's freedom, but finds he is too late. In the end of the book, on her boat ride to freedom, Cassy meets George Harris's sister, and discovers that Eliza is her long-lost daughter who was sold as a child. They travel together as a family to France and eventually Liberia, the African nation created for former American slaves. George Shelby returns to Kentucky and frees all the slaves of his farm. He tells them to remember Tom's sacrifice and his belief in the true meaning of Christianity.

Henry David Thoreau 1817-1861

He was an American author, poet, philosopher and naturalist. He is best known for his book Walden, or Life in the Woods, a reflection upon simple living in natural surroundings in which he presents himself as an exemplary figure who, by his nonconformity and

Appreciative observation of the natural world, could serve as a model for others. The third of four children of a storekeeper, Thoreau was born in Concord on July 12, 1817. He studied at the private Concord Academy and then began his studies at Harvard in 1833, excelling in languages; after his graduation in 1837 he returned to Concord and taught briefly at a local elementary school before resigning in protest after he was instructed to flog some of his students. In 1836 Thoreau met Ralph Waldo Emerson who became the most important influence and friendship in his life; in 1842 his brother John died and the grief at this loss inspired his elegiac A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers appeared in 1849.

In 1844 he decided to begin what he termed his "experiment" at Walden, building a cabin on land that Emerson owned and taking up residence there on July 4, 1845, a symbolic moment of personal liberation aligned with the celebration of national freedom. His cabin became the destination.

noticed by reviewers and readers. Thoreau continued to work intensively on Walden, producing seven full revisions before its publication in 1854, and in the same year he delivered his best known antislavery speech, Slavery in Massachusetts, protesting the arrest of the fugitive slave Anthony Burns and he welcomed the Civil War, with its possibility of a nation without slavery, even as he faced the difficulties of declining health brought on by tuberculosis. From this speech he emerged as one of the most outspoken abolitionists in the Concord area. While his health continued to deteriorate, he worked with his sister Sophia to prepare what could only be posthumously published writings; he was forty-four when he died on May 6, 1862. Only by the middle of the twentieth century, Thoreau's reputation has surpassed Emerson's, with Walden regarded as one of the masterpieces of American literature, in which more than anything else, Thoreau attempted to provoke his readers to think, to wake up. Hesaid life is shot andmiraculous and it is incumbent on each individual to figure out how best to respond to thecircumstances of the moment.

WALDEN, or life in the woods (memoir, published in 1854)
Thoreau moved to Walden on July 4, 1845, a symbolic moment of personal liberation aligned withthe celebration of national freedom. Composed by 18 chapters, it opens with the announcement thatThoreau spent two years at Walden Pond living a simple life.
1.ECONOMY: he supplies the four necessity of life: FOOD, SHELTER, CLOTHING, FUEL,helped by mother, best friend and Emerson and wife. He records his expenditures and earnings,demonstrating he understands economy. [poem: The Pretensions of Poverty, by Thomas Carew]
2.WHERE I LIVED, AND WHAT I LIVED FOR: thoughts of places he stayed at beforeselecting Walden Pond in the woods, to live a life free of obligations and full of leisure far frommail, which represents social relationship.
3.READING: discusses the benefit of classical literature, Greek and Latin.and he loves books by world traveler.

SOUNDS: truth that can be found in literature, can equally be found in nature. Rather than search for amusement in society and theater, he obtains pleasure in the sounds that ring around his cabin.

SOLITUDE: solitude can occur even amid companions if one's heart is not open to them. He meditates on this feeling, on the pleasures of escaping society, on his new companion and on the benefits of nature and of his deep communion with it, which he considers a medicine.

VISITORS: he also enjoys companionship and always leaves three chairs ready for visitors. He gives special attention to Alec Thérien, a woodsman, who cannot read or write and is described as leading an animal life, and compared to Walden Pond.

THE BEAN-FIELD: reflection of his enjoyment of this new job/hobby. It focuses on his earnings and his cultivation of crops.

THE VILLAGE: several time a week he goes to Concord, on one of his journey he is arrested for his refusal to pay a

poll tax.

9.THE PONDS: AUTUMN. He discusses the countryside and the geography of Walden Pond and he compares it to other ponds in the neighborhood.

10.BAKER FARM: while rambling in the wood he gets caught in a rainstorm and takes shelter in the hut of John Field, an Irish farmhand who wants to live the American Dream even though Thoreau urges him to live a simple, independent and fulfilling life in the woods.

11.HIGER LAWS: he discusses whether hunting animals and eating meat is necessary and he concludes that it is a primitive instinct to kill and eat animals, and those who transcend this propensity are superior to those who cannot. He lauds vegetarianism, chastity, work and the complete abstinence from alcoholic beverages. He also mentions some laws:

• What men already know instinctively is true humanity;
• The hunter is the greatest friend of the animal which is hunted;
• If the day and the night make one joyful, one is successful.

12.BRUTE NEIGHBORS: conversation between him and William Ellery

Channing (his bestfriend) – they are respectively a hermit and a poet. The first one gets fish for dinner, the second is absorbed in the clouds and later regrets his failure to catch fish.

13.HOUSE-WARMING: he adds a chimney, plasters the walls to stave off the cold of the oncoming winter, he lays in a supply of firewood and express affection for wood and fire.

14.FORMER INHABITANTS AND WINTER VISITORS: relates the stories of the people who formerly lived in the vicinity and then talks about visitors he receives during winter.

15.WINTER ANIMALS: he amuses himself watching wildlife during the winter.

16.THE POND IN WINTER: describes Walden Pond as it appears during winter.

17.SPRING: Walden and the other Ponds melt and he enjoys watching the thaw (disgelo), and witnessing the re-birth of nature. As nature is re-borne, so is he. He departs Walden on September 6, 1847.

18.CONCLUSION: passionate and urgent. He criticizes conformity. Every man should step to the music he hears, even if it is

The essay is also known with the title Civil Disobedience. It espouses the need to prioritize one's conscience over the dictates of laws. It criticizes American social institutions and policies, most prominently slavery and the Mexican-American War.

Thoreau begins his essay by arguing that government rarely proves itself useful and that it derives its power from the majority because they are different from that of his companions. By doing so, he may find happiness and self-fulfillment.

WE CAN ORGANIZE THE EIGHTEEN CHAPTERS IN NINE SECTIONS:

A. INTRO:

1. ECONOMY
2. WHERE I LIVED AND WHAT I LIVED FOR

B. ARTS:

1. READING
2. SOUNDS

C. FEELINGS:

1. SOLITUDE
2. VISITORS

D. POND'S LIFE:

1. THE BEAN-FIELD
2. THE VILLAGE
3. THE PONDS
4. THE BAKER FARM

E. LAW:

1. HIGHER LAWS

F. CHANNING:

1. BRUTE NEIGHBORS

G. WINTER:

1. HOUSE-WARMING
2. FORMER INHABITANTS AND WINTER VISITORS
3. WINTER ANIMALS
4. THE POND IN WINTER

H. SPRING/LEAVE:

1. SPRING

I. CONCLUSION:

1. CONCLUSION

RESISTANCE TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT (Aesthetic Papers, 1849)

The strongest group, not because they hold the most legitimate viewpoint. He asserts that people's first obligation is to do what they believe is right and not to follow the law dictated by the majority. When a government is unjust, people should refuse to follow the law and distance themselves from the government in general because we are not obligated to eliminating evils from the world, but we are obligated not to participate in such evils. And this includes not being a member of an unjust institution (like the government). Thoreau further argues that the United States fits his criteria for an unjust government, given their support of slavery and their practice of aggressive war.

Thoreau doubts the effectiveness of reform within the government and he argues that voting and petitioning for change achieves little. He presents his own experiences as a model for how to relate to an unjust government: in protest to slavery, he refused to pay taxes and spent a night in jail. But more

generally he ideologically dissociated himself from the government, washing his hands of it and refusing to participate in his institutions. According to Thoreau, this form of protest was preferable to advocating for reform within government: he asserts that one cannot see government for what it is when one is working within it. This essay covers several topics intersperses poetry and social commentary throughout.

FREDERICK DOUGLASS 1818-1895

Frederick Douglass was born into slavery sometime in 1817 or 1818. He was separated from his mother, Harriet Bailey, soon after his birth; his father was most likely their white master, Captain Anthony. At the age of seven Douglass was given to Captain Anthony's relative, Hugh Auld, who lived in Baltimore. There Douglass was more free and Sophia Auld began to teach him to read, but eventually she and her husband stopped to be kind to him. Douglass continued to read and started to write with the help of local boys, and became conscious of the evils of.

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