Escape from Society

Escape From Society

The battle for freedom from society’s influence is a theme present in many works of U.S. Romantic literature. This fear of conformity was significant in the works of many authors, scientists, and artists of the Romantic Era because it showed that people were beginning

to venture out of the norm and form their own ways of thinking. The encouragement of individuality is present in works such as Emerson’s “Nature”, and Melville’s “Bartleby the Scrivener”. These works are expressed in two different styles; Emerson voices his ideas through an essay, while Melville speaks through a fictional character by the name of Bartleby in a short story. The approach may be different, due to each author’s individuality, but the same message of encouraging individualism is the purpose of both “Nature” and “Bartleby the Scrivener”.

Emerson’s interest in individualism, and therefore opposition to conformity, is apparent in his essay “Nature”. The writing of “Nature” is a result of a transcendental experience. Emerson also encourages this experience for all men by saying “To go into solitude a man needs to retire as much from his chamber” (1472). Society is portrayed as an “evil” because it stands in one’s way of fully recognizing the true beauty in nature and ultimately life, because nature is the source of all life. Capitalism is one example of how society is “evil”. By placing a person in a position where they have power over others not only puts limits on other people’s thought and ideas it also puts them in a place of being subjected to these ideas to match that of the person in charge. Emerson explains in “Nature” that “none of them owns the landscape” (1437 Nature). By saying this he is implying that no one really owns anything or anyone. Everything links back to nature, people came from the earth and when they die they will return to the earth. It’s a cycle that no one can ever really place possession on. Everything man made is just people using nature to create objects in which they then put ownership on. Emerson’s main message through this work is that all men are created equal. Ultimately in the end ownership will never really matter because we will just return to our origin, nature.

Melville’s approach to individualism involves rejecting the control of society through a fictional character in a short story, Bartleby the Scrivener. He relates to his readers by placing the characters on Wall Street in a typical office setting. A man named Bartleby rejects this atmosphere of the capitalistic workforce and from this problems arise. Bartleby feels that he can do “what ever he pleases”. But by having this attitude, confusion and chaos emerge. One could even say he was setting up his own death by rejecting society or it could be said to be that society, by conforming, is killing the individual. Bartleby doesn’t seem to believe in taking orders or being put in a position where another person can tell him what to do. Through this it is implied he is different and therefore very much an individual. He “would prefer not to” share information and do certain tasks asked of him by the lawyer, therefore rejecting the power the lawyer tries to demonstrate (2458). This type of behavior