Are you a Transcendentalist?

Before beginning this assignment, you should be aware that you are still responsible for the reading my posts and the literature I provide for the following posts: Transcendentalism. This project replaces the tasks, not the reading. Your grade for this project will be recorded twice -- once in the Puritan column, and once in the Rationalists. You should read the entire set of directions and consult with me before beginning this project.

Are you a Transcendentalist?

In 1854 Henry David Thoreau published his best known work, Walden. The book chronicled his two year, two month, and two day stay at Walden Pond -- an experiment to "live deliberately". To continue, you should choose a section of Walden to read, and clear your choice with me before you begin.

Task One: Write a brief response (not so much a summary) of what you read. I am more interested in your thoughts than you telling me what Thoreau wrote.

Task Two: What do you think Thoreau meant by "living deliberately"? What does this have to do with Transcendentalism?

Task Three: Are you a Transcendentalist? Thoreau lived at Walden Pond, built his own home, and grew his own food as an experiment to get away from society, or "to illustrate the spiritual benefits of a simplified lifestyle". You should have a very clear idea of why a Transcendentalist may want to do this. If you are unsure, you should reread the original Transcendentalism post.

What kind of experiment could you conduct to separate yourself from society? You probably won't move to the New England woods for two years, but there are other ways you can break away from your society like Thoreau. What is the goal of your experiment? You should find a quote in one of the readings you have done for in this unit to explain what you want to accomplish?

Post the following information to your blog:

Responses to Tasks 1-2;
An explanation of your experiment;
A quote and explanation of your goal.

You will now be ready to conduct your experiment. It will be wise to keep notes or a journal while conducting your experiment. You may want to take photos for your post.

When you are through:

Task Four: How did it go? You should begin a substantial post detailing your experiences. This is why you kept a journal during the experiment. This portion of the post should be thorough and enjoyable to write. You should continue by explaining your goals and whether you met them. Did you have any Transcendental realizations? What aspects of the Transcendental philosophy became more clear to you? You should support any of these claims with quotations from the texts you have read. Please remember that claiming not to have had these realizations are still claims that need to be supported with textual evidence. Task four, when finished, should be a substantial piece of writing that could easily stand on its own.

Rationalism vs. Puritanism

Before beginning this assignment, you should be aware that you are still responsible for the reading my posts and the literature I provide for the following posts: The Puritans and The Rationalists. This project replaces the tasks, not the reading. Your grade for this project will be recorded twice -- once in the Puritan column, and once in the Rationalists. You should read the entire set of directions and consult with me before beginning this project.

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It should be obvious to see how the Puritans and the Rationalists differed in opinions, especially those who were lucky to live at the same time. As a starter, you should do some brief research on Cotton Mather, who was the son of a Puritan minister, to see what happened to him when he began inoculating people to protect them from smallpox.

First: Complete a substantial post on your blog that gives a summary of what you found in your research, where you found it, as well as your views on the incident. This should be 3-4 paragraphs.

Next: you should choose a modern topic to which we can attach the ideals of both the Puritans and the Rationalists. It should not be too hard to think of one -- just think about the strong feelings and arguments people have about topics where there is a difference between science and religion. (Stem cell research, abortion, evolution vs. creationism, etc.)

YOU ARE GOING TO DO SOME RESEARCH!!

After deciding your topic, you need to find two pieces of reliable literature from both sides. Two of these pieces of literature should be from religious groups or recognized social organizations. These examples should illustrate well the group's feelings about the topic, and from where they base those feelings. The other two pieces should be persuasive writings, editorials, or other pieces of media (youtube?) from individuals who are demonstrating their feelings about the issue. You should provide suitable bibliographic citations for all these pieces. There are tips for you here and and there is an easy MLA citation guide here.

Each of the four pieces you provide should be followed by your personal reaction to the way in which the material and the arguments are presented. I am not asking you to choose sides, or to use this as an opportunity to promote your feelings. I want you to address how each of your examples delivers their message. You might find this will be easy to do for some examples than for others, so be selective.

The next step should be a final discussion in which you explain how the arguments you found relate to the Puritans and the Rationalists we are studying in American Literature. This discussion should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 8-10 paragraphs, and contain direct textual evidence from the examples you found as well as the following texts: Of Plymouth Plantation, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, and The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin.

Checklist:

1. Summary / Discussion of Cotton Mather
2. Material (link) from religious group or social organization 1 with your discussion
3. Material (link) from religious group or social organization 2 with your discussion
4. Material from individual 1 with your discussion
5. Material from individual 2 with your discussion
6. Final discussion with direct textual evidence from your examples as well as the literature listed above.

Under Construction . . .