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Transcendentalism and the concept of non-conformity

Emily Dickinson That love is all there is Nathaniel Hawthorne Rappaccinis daughter

The purpose of this essay is to discuss the transcendentalist idea of non-conformity in two literary texts of two well-known American transcendentalists: Emily Dickinson and Nathaniel Hawthorne. But first of all, if we think about transcendentalism, we probably think in the American Ralph Waldo Emerson, who is considered the father of the movement. People tend to conceive transcendentalism as only a literary movement. Transcendentalism is a much larger concept, it is a way of thinking, living and behaving. The texts only help us to see clearly some of the ideas that are common to most transcendentalists. One of these ideas is the idea of nonconformity. A non-conformist is a person that has different beliefs or different ways of doing something from most other people1, a person who wishes to break apart from the established rules and practices of society. In Self-reliance Emerson makes reference to the role of society and the idea of conformity: society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members [] The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs.2 Conformity then is the easiest way of living. Conformists tend to play along with the fixed structures of society because if they do not the world whips them with its displeasure3. Non-conformity is another way of living, to break from the structure and follow your deepest inner thoughts and beliefs, and to truly rely on them, no matter what the society tries to impose. In Emily Dickinsons poem That Love is all there is we can find several aspects referring to the transcendent idea of non-conformity. We live in a society where all aspects of our lives are guided by the scientific knowledge. We trust it; we allow this kind of knowledge to guide us, to control our thoughts and beliefs. If we say we know something, is only because we have seen, tasted, heard, and/or experimented upon it. Other types of knowledge are not prestigious. We dismiss them and we socially condemned people that believe and understand things in a different way. In Occidental societies in general, knowing is more important than being. We
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Definition of Longmans active Study dictionary. Self-reliance, Emerson, paragraph 6. 3 Self-reliance, Emerson, paragraph 11.

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conform ourselves to the scientific knowledge of doctors, researchers, etc. Emily Dickinson highly disagrees with this. By marking the first sentence of the poem she implies that Existence is more important than knowledge. She tries to emphasize is over know: That love IS all there IS/ IS all we KNOW of love4. Knowing is a minimal part of being. We can know up to a certain extent since, in the words of Emily Dickinson, the groove can never be larger than the freight. This groove is the device that permits us to know but it also limits our knowledge. Love is an infinite concept compared to our groove. The problem is that we, conformist members of the society, tend to enlarge the groove, to get the full comprehension of concepts like love. We tend to conform to one type of knowledge. The poet tells us that this type of holistic knowledge is truly impossible to achieve because of the infinitude of some concepts such as love. In this sense, Emily Dickinson does not conform to this established conception of her society that only one kind of knowledge is possible and acceptable. She truly believes that human kind is highly limited. In her poetry Emily Dickinson makes a controversial point, she is running against the stream. We can further develop this argument if we focus our attention in Hawthornes tale Rappaccinis daughter. In this tale, two very different ways of knowing are also shown. The tale is set in a particular place in Italy where science is of extreme importance. The fact that this story takes place in a University is not casual. Universities in the south of Italy used to be prestigious for their science. From the beginning of the tale we can distinguish between Dr. Baglioni methods and Dr. Rappaccinis methods. The first is a faithful follower of the scientific knowledge while the second seems to appreciate and deduce things from looking into (the) inmost nature5 of his experimental garden. Giovanni is throughout the text pushed to decide which kind of knowledge is he going to address. This is a story of nature and how nature is perceived. Science is only one manner of knowing nature. The other possibility is to create a spiritual connection with nature, what Emerson called intuition, something that underlies every former state of life and circumstances, as it does underlie (the) present, and what is called life, and what is called death6 In science we use our senses in order to know. This is the perception of Baglioni, a typical physician of eminent repute7. He believes that nature is an object of

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That love is all there is, Emily Dickinson. Rappaccinis daughter, Hawthorne, paragraph 12. 6 Self-reliance, Emerson, paragraph 25. 7 Rappaccinis daughter, Hawthorne, paragraph 23.

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experimentation, distant and not related to human kind. Nature needs to be rationally observed in order to be studied. However, as we are human beings, our senses often fail and we are pushed by them to love, like or hate something. For instance, the first description of Dr. Rappaccini is made by what is happening inside Giovannis mind with the information he is receiving from his senses, more specifically from his eyes. He does not like the fact that the doctor does not touch the plants and so that makes Rappaccini a distrustful gardener8. In the end is Giovannis decision to trust Dr. Baglioni and therefore science and reason rather than his own intuition, his spiritual connection with Beatrice, his love. The young man conforms to the kind of knowledge that the majority of the people in his surroundings believes in. Conformity to the trustful science and reason wins finally and it is also what ends the life of Beatrice. The desire of Giovanni to break with the conformity was not enough. Although he had seen Beatrices soul and kindness, his doubts were stronger than his love. If he had followed his intuition instead of his reason, he would have become a non-conformist. These texts make us realize that, although in our society there are certain things that we give for granted (like trusting science), we need to start being more open-minded. As Emerson says Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you [] Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart [].9 Scientific knowledge is only ONE source to know nature. But there are other sources of knowing, like our intuition. If we dismiss and distrust these other ways, we behave according to the rules that society has established, and then, as in Giovannis case, we suffer the consequences.

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Rappaccinis daughter, Hawthorne, paragraph 13. Self-reliance, Emerson, paragraph 3.