A Social Study: Finding People Through A Lens

The idea of American Romanticism originated in the early 19th century. It encompassed the revolutionary spirit America was beginning to embody, and sought to break rigid societal norms of conformity by emphasizing the individuals importance, fueled by emotion as movement, in connecting to the world in which one lived. The movement utilized various facets of art to form an identity, which produced an overwhelming appeal to an American society with contradicting mindsets prevalent in trying to form what the said identity looked like. Though perhaps a topic that could be spoke upon to no extent, the American Romantic ideal becomes certainly prevalent while considering the works of Henry David Thoreau and Edward Curtis. Both men use elements of the Romantic Movement in their work. They speak to the pathos of an audience, using vivid imagery, eventuating an emotional experience. Though the two men lived at different times, their work in speaking to the idea of a “noble savage” is certainly one that should be considered. Thoreau, transcendentalist, environmentalist, writer, anarchist, and in some ways foundational revolutionist, romanticized the idea of a “savage,” yet noble Indian in critiquing a society which he felt he didn’t belong. He used the savage idea to pose a sense of freedom through wildness. Curtis, through the same use of romanticizing, portrayed Native Americans as godlike and yet human, to a society whose opinion about the group was perhaps misguided.

Some years before the publishing of Walking by Thoreau, the debate on the Indian Removal Act was in full swing. America was quite torn on the decision, which ultimately displaced the lives of thousands of Indians. The Act was eventually set in to place and changed the fu...

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- Historical Context reference

Thoreau, Henry D. Walking. MS. The Transcendentalists - including Ralph Waldo Emerson - Henry David Thoreau - Others - Dial Magazine. Jone Johnson Lewis, 1995. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. .

Sioux Chiefs. 1908. Photograph. Bruce Kapson Gallery: Sioux Chiefs Portfolio 3, Plate 79 by Edward S. Curtis. Bruce Kapson Gallery Vintage Original Edward S. Curtis Photography. By Edward Curtis. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. .

- Photo Used

A Family Group-Noatak. 1928. Photograph. Bruce Kapson Gallery: A Family Group-Noatak Portfolio 20 Plate #717 by Edward S. Curtis. Bruce Kapson Gallery Vintage Original Edward S. Curtis Photography. By Edward Curtis. Web. 20 Feb. 2011. .

- Photo Used