synthesis
Period 8 could be compared to period 4. During the Environmental Movement in the 1960’s and Counter Culture, people began to appreciate nature’s beauty and started to be more conscious of the environment. This is similar to transcendentalism, and can be conveyed in the writings “Nature” by Ralph Waldo Emerson and “Walden” by Henry David Thoreau, which both focused on the beauty of nature and living a simple lifestyle. Transcendentalists believed in free love, being closer to nature, and stressed self-realization. They eschewed traditional religion and materialism which is similar to the mindset of the Hippies of the 60s. Both groups wanted to challenge the status quo, Transcendentalists like Emerson and Thoreau, thought it was a good idea to drop out of society. Hippies, instead decided that they could accomplish their goals through protest.They marched for Civil Rights, they demonstrated against the Vietnam War, and they fought for equal rights for women. Both hippies and transcendentalists supported the idea of civil disobedience.