Thursday, April 9, 2009
Transcendental Eustace
If my options are to defend, challenge, or qualify, I choose qualify. There are always things that support and attack Eustace's identity as a member of various systems of thought, and so Eustace is simultaneously a transcendentalist and not. He believes in many of the tenets of transcendentalism, such as the outpouring of discipline and beauty solely from nature. He wants to become more than he is, to feel a different kind of life by reconnecting with nature, and in this way wishes to transcend. He is spiritual, and always seeks to find god in nature. In all of these things one would call Eustace a transcendentalist, but I believe he is not entirely one of them. The main difference is that Eustace is not cognizant of what he is doing. He did not find thought, and take action because of those ideas. He did not realize that god was in nature while living in the city, but simply found god and all of his transcendence by simply being among the world and the things he loves. Transcendentalism is premeditated, and Eustace simply wanted to live in the best and freest way he could. He sought out nature because of things like the scene where he fights the deer. Being in nature makes him whole, but not because he spent his life philosophizing and eventually realizing this should be so, but because he experienced life firsthand and then pursued it because he could.
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I agree that Eustace had not "spent his life philosophizing and eventually realizing this should be so", but what if we alter this word order slightly? Eustace realized it should be so, as evidenced by his long ventures into the woods as a child and his eventual departure from home, and then he commences in his philosophizing. Eustace is his himself tantamount to an extreme philosopher. Virtually every other direct quote Gilbert utilizes from Eustace are his discussions about the decadence of society and how a deeper understanding of nature can improve ones lot in life. Eustace is completely cognizant of what he is doing. This is represented by the fact that he is not a recluse - he does not take to the woods and sever all human contact. This would demonstrate that Eustace needed the woods, but was not aware of why he needed them. Instead he lectures, he tours schools, and he tells children and adults about the extreme spiritual fulfillment of his lifestyle. This is what a philosopher does. They are never content to keep their views to themselves, because each and every one believes they have stumbled upon a unique truth that bears sharing with all of mankind. One can quibble over whether Eustace found nature first, and then began to philosophically determine his role in nature, or if he had already determined his philosophical role before embarking into nature. But this is irrelevant. The point is that Eustace realized that there was something spiritual and unique about his lifestyle, and he made everyone he met aware of the philosophical implications. He was not simply a mountain man who went out into the woods due to the giddy thrill that ensued.
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