April 9

Yes, through the discussions that we had today I do believe that Eustace was a transcendentalist. Gilbert as well believes that Eustace is a transcendentalist. She uses many different examples that show that she believes this. One example was when Eustace said, “man, you guys have a lot of material possessions” (p69). This quote shows how Eustace was trying to simplify the American lifestyle, which goes with the definition of transcendentalism. Dictionary.com defines it as “any system of philosophy emphasizing the intuitive and spiritual above the empirical and material.” The other examples that Gilbert uses also support this definition. I do agree with Gilbert that Eustace is a transcendentalist. He fit well into the definition of transcendentalism and he focused his life around living in nature. Even if he didn’t consider himself one, he displayed many of the characteristics of a transcendentalist, so I feel that he could be identified as one.