Pre-disscusion question for "Ralph Waldo Emerson"

By reading Emerson's biography you should have noticed that death played an important part in his life. His father, first wife, and son all died before their time. "I shun father and mother and wife and brother when my genius call me" (440) says Emerson of family and throughout the essay he questions aspects of religion and God. How do unfortunate things from Emerson's past effect his ideas of being an individual? If they do at all. When answering that question consider the following, did his father dying at an early age make him believe family isn't necessary for the individual? Did his son dying at the age of five make him question following God and joining those who believe? Examine the text to come to a decision on whether Emerson naturally thinks this way or if his past created his mindset.

Housekeeping Discussion

Ruth and Sylvie's possible death and their crossing of the bridge was the largest part of our class discussion. Clearly you can debate their death and its significance for a long time but one point I highly disagreed with, I believe Rebecca brought it up is that, if Ruth didn't die and crossed over the bridge then she completed the female transition. The way I see it by leaving Fingerbone in the manner she did (with Sylvie, burning the house down, not telling anyone she was leaving), Ruth just played into what the society around her expected of her. Surprising no-one she acted in a strange fashion, and in the shadow of Sylvie, it is how everyone around her would expect her to depart. To complete the female transition a woman should do something or act in a way where any pre-conceived notions of her are destroyed and a new definition of who she is come through. If Ruth had become what she wanted to be in Fingerbone or left with more dignity then she would have completed the female transition, instead she stayed within her boundaries and didn't prove anything to anyone. By crossing over the bridge Ruth did not complete any transition she just confirmed people's beliefs of who she truly was, a follower.

Poe's use of rhetorical devices in The Raven

Poe utilizes both pathos and ethos in The Raven. Pathos can be found in the fear, paranoia, and hopelessness in the poem to make it feel human. While ethos is used to make the story relatable, Poe finds an audience in people who have an inability to let go, but at the same time those who try to ignore their past. The paranoid beginning where the narrator tries to convince himself the rapping is just someone at the door grabs those who are hiding from their past, covering things up in an attempt to soften what has happened to them. The repetition of "nevermore" found in the poem is for both sides of the audience, it represents that feeling of something that will not leave the mind, no matter how hard a person may try to forget it. But Poe is not only looking to relate to his audience, it seems he wants to give them advice. By ending the poem on such a hopeless not, "And my soul from out that shadow that lies floating on the floor/ Shall be lifted - nevermore," Poe shows that their is nothing to be gained from ignoring or obsessing over your past, but facing it to learn from mistakes is reasonable.