Obstacles to happiness in Hawthorne, Emerson, and Thoreau

American Literature

Nineteenth century American literature is filled with both idealism and cynicism. The freedoms and liberties promised in the Constitution only applied to white males, which is why many authors during the nineteenth century used literature to critique social injustice. Slave narratives like Frederick Douglasses' are of the most notable genres of literature to address racial injustice. Nathaniel Hawthorne can be considered one of America's first feminist authors, as he embedded themes of gender relations in novels like the Blithedale Romance. The transcendentalists attempted to show how American values like freedom and independence had been grossly distorted by the nineteenth century. In Walden, Henry David Thoreau shows how simplicity, not wealth, can create happiness. Ralph Waldo Emerson advocates free thinking and nonconformity as keys to inner peace in his essay "Self-Reliance." Nineteenth century American literature reveals that the three greatest obstacles in the pursuit of happiness include institutionalized discrimination, materialism, and social conformity.

In "Self-Reliance," Emerson calls society a "joint-stock company," one "in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater." Emerson points out that surrendering personal liberty suppresses joy and creativity while creating a dull and lifeless society. The pressure to conform kills the human spirit, which could rise to greatness if only it were allowed to shine in full self-expression. Emerson writes, "In every work of genius we recognize our own rejected thoughts: they come back to us with a certain alienated majesty." By this, Emerson suggests that geniuses are the ones who are willing to act on their creativity rather than dismiss it. The transcendentalist advocates taking personal risks to develop creative genius: To be great is to be misunderstood." Instead of acting and reacting in predictable ways, a great person reinvents himself or herself daily. Moreover, Emerson claims that conformity "scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your character."

Like Emerson, Thoreau also advocated strong self-reliance in the pursuit of happiness. Thoreau undertook an ambitious personal experiment of leaving the comforts of his familiar home for the woods. He built a cabin near Concord, Massachusetts on the edge of Walden Pond and wrote about his experiences. His essay Walden underscores the value of simplicity and the illusion that wealth begets happienss. Unfettered by the pressures of society while in the woods, Thoreau experienced a flourishing of creativity: "There was pasture enough for my imagination," (Chapter 2). Animals become his friends, as he reconnects with the core of his being in the absence of mundane affairs. By surrendering attachments to materialistic comforts, Thoreau liberated his mind and soul. Thoreau refers to the process as a spiritual awakening. In Walden, he writes, "I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived." Materialism as well are conformity are obstacles to genuine contentment. The keys to happiness include living fully and "deliberately," in the present moment.

While the transcendentalists understand how social conformity and materialism create the problems associated with spiritual discontent, Emerson and Thoreau do not address issues related to race and gender. Yet systematic discrimination can certainly be a real obstacle to happiness. In the nineteenth century and even to a degree in the 21st, racism and sexism is institutionalized to the point where the most ambitious people of color and especially females of color are systematically prevented from achieving their goals. Although Thoreau might simply tell a person of color to go live in the woods and forget about their careers, not all Americans desire to live a spartan life. Emerson would agree that each individual must decide for himself or herself how to best go about maximizing talent and potential.

Frederick Douglass arguably did maximize his potential as a slave. Offering one of the most significant slave narratives, Douglass offers a key piece of primary evidence detailing the effects of slavery on individuals and on African-Americans as a whole. His learning to read and write was itself an act of rebellion, as slaves were prohibited from gaining power through knowledge. Douglass understands how education directly leads to empowerment, and thus takes the risk of helping his fellow slaves learn how to read and write. Emerson would have commended Douglass for his achievements. Emerson decried the evils of social hierarchy as when he stated, "A great man is coming to eat at my house. I do not wish to please him; I wish that he should wish to please me." Frederick Douglass was directly rebelling against white supremacy and the institution of slavery. Moreover, Douglass noted the role that social conformity and peer pressure played in creating the plantation culture of the south. When he first goes to Baltimore, Douglass is suprised by the kindness of Sophia Auld. Yet Douglass notes the effect of social conformity on Sophia in Chapter 7 of the narrative: "Slavery proved as injurious to her as it did to me. When I went there, she was a pious, warm, and tender-hearted woman. There was no sorrow or suffering for which she had not a tear...Slavery soon proved its ability to divest her of these heavenly qualities." Douglass suggests that the institution of slavery was at least in part sustained by the complicity of men and women like Sophia, who could not think for themselves. Slavery had a more immediate and visceral effect on Douglass. Because he practiced self-reliance while understanding the restrictionsn of racism, Douglass eventually does achieve freedom and even happiness. "It was a moment of the highest excitement I ever experienced," he writes upon arriving in New York (Chapter 11). Douglass proves that it is possible to achieve happiness in spite of the most formidable obstacles.

Gender roles and norms place restrictions on women, creating major obstacles to happiness. In Hawthorne's the Blithedale Romance, gender is portrayed as a significant social issue. Priscilla embodies the passive female who has no will of her own. In Chapter 20, for example, Priscilla is described as "only a leaf floating on the dark current of events, without influencing them by her own choice or plan." In Chapter 25, the otherwise strong Zenobia breaks down in a diatribe that upholds gender stereotypes. Zenobia calls herself "a woman...weak, vain, unprincipled (like most of my sex; for our virtues, when we have any, are merely impulsive and intuitive), passionate, too, and pursuing my foolish and unattainable ends by indirect and cunning," (Chapter 25).

By the end of the Blithedale experiment, Zenobia is a completely different person from who she was at the onset. Zenobia's downfall is partly due to systematic sexism. When she is first introduced, Zenobia is portrayed as a strong, sophisticated, and independent woman who does not conform to gender stereotypes. In Chapter 3, her laugh is described as "not in the least like an ordinary woman's laugh." She is "deficient in softness and delicacy" whereas by the end of the novel Zenobia has completely fallen apart from emotional weakness. At the same time, Zenobia admits to holding the same gender stereotypes that prevent women from being viewed as individuals such as when she states, "we of the softer sex," (Chapter 3).