Civil Disobedience

Henry David Thoreau was a man of simplicity (McElroy). In his time, he was considered a naturalist, although he proved to be a great philosopher who actually applied his philosophies to his daily life. Thoreau was a philosopher in the rising of the Transcendentalism Era (McElroy). Transcendentalists value intuition and emotion over reason and also put emphasis on looking inward for truth (Dark Romanticism). Many values of Transcendentalism appear throughout the text called "Civil Disobedience".

Thoreau discusses why people follow the government law, even if they think it to be unjust (Thoreau). Slavery was common in Thoreau's time, however, he did not like it. He did not want to contribute to slavery because he thought it was wrong. The problem arose when Thoreau had to pay his taxes. Money from the taxes went towards slavery, which Thoreau was readily against. Because of this, Thoreau did not pay his poll tax. Because of his rebellious act, Thoreau was arrested, only to be released after one night (Thoreau). After being put in jail, Thoreau states,

"Must the citizen ever for a moment, or in the least degree, resign his conscience to the legislator? Why has every man a conscience then? I think that we should be men first, and subjects afterward. It is not desirable to cultivate a respect for the law, so much as for the right. The only obligation which I have a right to assume is to do at any time what I think right."

Thoreau raises an excellent point in wondering why do we have a conscience if we do not get to use it? (Thoreau). If we must obey the legislator on every topic, then what is the point of a free country. Men are not men if they have no power to have an opinion or to do what is right. It does not seem just that men must act as dogs and obey the government, even if they believe in a greater cause (Thoreau).

After questioning how can men follow all laws without considering if they are morally correct and how can men follow laws they know are wrong, Thoreau eventually comes to a personal conclusion(Thoreau). Throughout the whole essay, Thoreau struggles with the idea of following laws. It is the politically correct thing to do, but can be the morally incorrect thing to do(Thoreau). When it comes to the government, Thoreau eventually says that if the government

"requires you to be the agent of injustice to another, then, I say, break the law. Let your life be a counter friction to stop the machine (Thoreau)"

He finally comes to the conclusion that you must break the law if it is causing you to be unjust or morally wrong (Thoreau). For Thoreau it was worth it to break the law, to stand up for what he believes in. Not all men have the courage to do that, but Thoreau tells them to be counter friction to stop the "machine". He had previously compared the government to a machine and compared peoples opposing opinions to the government as friction against the machine (Thoreau). Thoreau is a man of high integrity and character, not everyone can be people like that. It takes much inner strength to do so. Thoreau is also innocent (Thoreau). The end of the essay concludes with Thoreau going on a huckleberry party with the children of the town. There, they are looking for huckleberries and Thoreau is away from the government and at peace (Thoreau).

"Thoreau's Civil Disobedience - with Annotated Text." The Thoreau Reader. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. .

"Henry David Thoreau and 'Civil Disobedience' by Wendy McElroy." LewRockwell.com. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. .

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 26 Jan. 2012. .

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when is it acceptable to break the rules/law

"The Minister's Black Veil"

There are many psychological aspects of the story "The Minister's Black Veil" (Hawthorne). In this short story, a minister in a small, average town puts on a black veil. This scares and confuses his congregation, and all of the people in the town. The minister will not take off the veil and people start to become more frightful of him. The minister eventually is on his death bed and states that he will never take the veil off while he is on this earth. He believes that he needs to do it to show the people that they are hiding sins(Hawthorne).

The minister believes that it is his duty to wear the veil(Hawthorne). He wears it as an example to the people to remind them that they all have sins that they hide and keep in secret. He wears it to show that he has sins, but he is not going to pretend that they don't exist, as all the other people do. Psychologically, this minister is very strong willed. Because of wearing the black veil he loses his girl, his friends, his credibility, and his social standings. It takes a lot of drive and sacrifice for this man to do what he believes is right. As he is dying he says, "Tremble also at each other! Have men avoided me, and women shown no pity, and children screamed and fled, only for my black veil? What, but the mystery which it obscurely typifies, has made this piece of crape so awful? When the friend shows his inmost heart to his friend; the lover to his best beloved; when man does not vainly shrink from the eye of his Creator, loathsomely treasuring up the secret of his sin; then deem me a monster, for the symbol beneath which I have lived, and die! I look around me, and, lo! on every visage a Black Veil!" The minister sees a veil on everyone that he looks at. He is speaking metaphorically but is saying that each person is living in sin and hiding it. Which is such a pity, and he is showing it and being condemned(Hawthorne).

There are also many psychological aspects to be discussed of the towns people. They became suddenly fearful when the minister's face was concealed by a black veil. They began to question if the man even was the minister. It seems like just because he is wearing a black veil, all of the common sense of the towns people goes out the window.

Dark Romanticism is most definitely shown in this work of literature (Hawthorne). Dark Romanticism accepts that there is sin and evil in the world (Dark Romanticism). This piece of literature does acknowledge and accept that there is sin and evil in the world(Hawthorne). In fact, the minister outwardly shows that he has sins and encourages others to not hide their sins any longer in the dark, but to bring them into the light. "The Minister's Black Veil" really shows Dark Romanticism (Hawthorne).

Hawthorne, Nathaniel. "The Minister's Black Veil, by Nathaniel Hawthorne, 1836." Eldritch Press. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. .

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 22 Jan. 2012. .

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• Journal #24: write about a time when you were spooked by something.

Alone - Edgar Allan Poe

In the poem "Alone", by Edgar Allan Poe, Poe reveals much about his life (Poe). He starts by telling of his childhood.

"From childhood's hour I have not been

As others were; I have not seen

As others saw; I could not bring

My passions from a common spring(Poe)."

This is Poe saying that since childhood, he was different (Poe). Even from a young age, Poe viewed the world differently than the other kids did. He was not excited about the things other children were excited about, he did not find joy in the things other children were joyful about, he did not have interest in the things that other children had interest in. He tried to be like the other children, but he could not. He was not like the other children (Poe).

From the same source I have not taken
My sorrow; I could not awaken
My heart to joy at the same tone;
And all I loved, I loved alone (Poe).

Poe also did not have sorrows like other children had sorrows (Poe). Instead, the sorrows that Poe faced were deeper. They were sorrows that he could not shake off, as other children seemed to shake off their sorrows. He lost his joy at a young age, and could not be happy like the other children were. Everything that he did find ta slightest joy in, was enjoyed only by him. He had nobody else there for him, there with him, to support him, or to do life with (Poe).

"Then- in my childhood, in the dawn
Of a most stormy life- was drawn
From every depth of good and ill

The mystery which binds me still: (Poe)"

Childhood for Poe was not easy. He was not raised into an easy life, and while he was still a child, a dark event changed his life in a drastic way. Something became different about Poe. It is not known what it is, but something in childhood changed Poe.

"From the torrent, or the fountain,
From the red cliff of the mountain,
From the sun that round me rolled
In its autumn tint of gold,
From the lightning in the sky
As it passed me flying by,
From the thunder and the storm,
And the cloud that took the form
(When the rest of Heaven was blue)
Of a demon in my view (Poe)."

There were so many things happening around Poe that were amazing, beautiful, and magnificent. However, Poe did not see those things. Poe could not see past his own hurts to see the beauties of this world. He was stuck in his own rut, with no way out, it seemed. He was so caught up with his own problems that it seemed he looked at life almost as if through the eyes of a demon.

Dark Romanticism focuses on the darkness of the human soul (Dark Romanticism). In this poem Poe definitely focuses on the dark side of his life rather than the good things. The entire poem is depressing and about being lonely. He even says he looks at life as if through the eyes of a demon. Dark Romanticism is most definitely portrayed in this poem.

"Alone by Edgar Allan Poe." PoemHunter.Com - Thousands of Poems and Poets.. Poetry Search Engine. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. .

"Dark Romanticism - ArticleWorld." Main Page - ArticleWorld. Web. 25 Jan. 2012. .

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Journal #23: think about scary stories you have read and scary movies you have seen - what techniques make them scary? Use examples from scary stories and movies to demonstrate your thoughts.

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fear.

"The Pit and the Pendulum"

"The Pit and the Pendulum" is a short story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It is written in the writing style of Dark Romanticism. Like Romanticism writing, Dark Romanticism writing values emotion over logic and reason (Dark Romanticism). Dark Romanticism embraces illogical elements, and acknowledges the evil of man and the horrors of evil (Dark Romanticism). "The Pit and the Pendulum" most definitely qualifies as a short story of the Dark Romanticism Era. The story takes place during the Spanish Inquisition, with a soldier who is on a death sentence of being literally thrown into a pit (The Pit). This story portrays gruesome horror after horror for this poor narrator of the story. This story has a very evil background to it, and most readily acknowledges the evil of man and the horror of evil. Poe embraces illogical elements illogical elements within the story "The Pit and the Pendulum".

The story begins with the narrator of the story telling of what he remembers of his trial, which is very vague and includes the recollection of him receiving a death sentence (Poe). The story picks up with the narrator gaining consciousness and he recalls upon what he was thinking of.

"Then entire forgetfulness of all that followed; of all that a later day and much earnestness of endeavor have enabled me vaguely to recall (Poe 265).

As the man realizes he does not remember how or where he got to be where he is, he just as soon realizes that he does not know where he has been (Poe). This is the immediate moment where the psychological torture inflicted by the Spanish Inquisition begin to set in. The man becomes utterly afraid to open his eyes, and when he does, he finds to his utter dismay and horror what he had hoped would not be; complete darkness. Although weary and already worn out, the man begins to explore his new surrounding and discovers that he is in a pit. This seems to put the man into almost a sort of panic, when he realizes that all of the tales of the dreaded Spanish pit that he had once heard, were inevitably coming true in his life all at once. The psychological stress on this poor man is suddenly so intense it even seems to cause the reader of the story to go mad, just like the narrator himself (Poe).

From here on out in the story, the narrator is under extreme psychological and physical duress (Poe). He finds himself in a pit, knowing that he is facing death. The death is not what the man is under duress about, it is the torture that he knows is to come that daunts the man into his inner being. The man is shaken up and his nerves are unbound to such an extent that the pressure of the man can be felt by the reader of the story. After the man discovers a deep well of death, the man is struck with fear and shrinks to a corner of his cell. He knows that he is going to be tortured, but has no courage to kill himself by jumping into the pit (Poe).

"In other conditions of mind I might have had courage to end my misery at once by a plunge into one of these abysses; but now I was the veriest of cowards" (Poe 267).

The psychological state of the narrator is altered much by the constant conscientiousness of the torture that will soon be inflicted upon him. In fact, the psychological duress is more straining on the man than is the physical duress of what actually happens to him (Poe). This story is gruesome and twisted and is a fine example of Dark Romanticism writing.

Poe, Edgar Allan. "The Pit and the Pendulum." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 263-273. Print.

"Dark Romanticism." Romanticism. Oracle. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. .

"The Pit and the Pendulum Novel Summary, Literary Analysis, Review." Novel Summaries Analysis. Web. 20 Jan. 2012. .

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In the winter we like to go sledding

An escape from school, which we are dreading

The mountain of snow is a perfect scene

Of the white winter that is so serene

The boys and the girls all young in their hearts

Run to the sledding hill when the snow starts

So innocent and pure is their laughter

The fun of the sledding is seen soon after

zooming down the hill the at the speed of light

The children do rejoice when they take flight

And CRASH go their sleds into a big tree

The children spring back up shouting with glee

When they get tired they plop to the ground

Forming angels in the snow, without sound

Way up and down the big hill they do trek

Waiting for their turn to have their sled wreck

Up the immense hill, the children must climb

It seems to get bigger every time

Jumping and wading in the fluffy snow

Back home is not where they do want to go

But when it gets dark and they go back home

Hot cocoa is there to sip off the foam

Dragging and moping off into their beds

The thoughts of sledding repeats in their heads

Sleep comes quickly, as their mothers assumed

Rest they must get for the sledding presumed

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From the pale sky was fluttering beautiful white crystals, falling like feathers. These crystals were as delicate as could be and would melt away to a small pool of water at the first touch. The crystals multiplying in the sky, and gathering on the ground, made a swift crunch and squeal underfoot. However, there were few feet that had traveled here on this barren land before us, and the ones that had were the naked feet of the natives. The crystals were as white as ever and cool to the touch. Around the trees there gathered lumps of the white beauty, as though it was pleading the sleeping trees to come out of their slumber, and come out to play. The crystals whirled about in an enticing way, not only to the trees. It reached into the soul of every child and placed within him a desire to dance and to frolic in the white mist. The white all around encasing the world with a blinding whiteness, held such a beauty, a pure beauty. The beauty was that of a bride in a white dress on the day of her wedding. Her knees trembling, her hands quaking, her mind racing because of the joy welling up inside her. The beauty of the blinding whiteness was so pure and so innocent that the thought of ruining the perfectly glazed whiteness by stepping onto it, seemed such a pity. To break the purity that had been so wonderfully crafted seemed such a tragedy...but wait. The tragedy is gone, now is excitement! The feeling of being the only one, the lone soul to be in existence in this white wonderland was such a remarkable feeling! The glorious feeling of doing whatever you please in the dream of this fluffy white goodness was such a freeing one. The whiteness so white, yet not over bearing was a marvelous thing in the open field dusted with the white crystals from above.