Homework Help: English

Posted by Belinda on Thursday, January 4, 2007 at 11:37pm.

In Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Dr. Heidegger's Experiment", I was asked to figure out how Hawthorne feels about transcendentalism. We determined that Dr. Heidegger represents Ralph Waldo Emerson, a transcendentalist. However, I can't decide if Hawthorne thought transcendentalism was ridiculous and overly-optimistic or if he was making fun of it or praising it???? I think that determining whether or not the water the old people drink is really full of youth or not is important, but Hawthorne leaves that open to interpretation. So, I am totally confused about what he feels about transcendentalism. If anyone can help me on this, I'd really appreciate it.

You are thinking too hard. Hawthorne was poking fun at them, they dressed weirdly, and were odd. Read this:

http://www.hawthorneinsalem.org/ScholarsForum/MMD2635.html

No one has answered this question yet.

Answer this Question

Related Questions

English Essay Thesis - Here's my thesis for an essay on the Scarlet Letter. ...
English - Since you read an actual letter from Melville to Hawthorne, you got a ...
English HELP - Has anyone ever read "The Ambitious Guest" by Nathaniel...
English/writing - what is a catchy topic for my essay based on this thesis ...
english - can someone please help me with these two essay questions about the ...
english - Hawthorne uses a range of symbols in THE SCARLET LETTER. Develop a ...
Psychology - 1. Samantha is suffering from fatigue and sometimes cannot make ...
SS7R - Corrects! - 1. DR 2. F 3. F 4. DR 5. DR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 6. F 7. DR...
american literature - what is the attractive legend about hawthorne?
Foreign languages - I would like you to check my sentences, please. Thank you, ...

For Further Reading

First Name:
School Subject:
Answer: