Transcendentalism vs. Anti-transcendentalism

       Transcendentalism and anti transcendentalism are complete opposites. I prefer to read transcendentalist stories. These say that man is born good, children are God's perfect creation, and that one can only find God in and through nature, and the belief in universal truths. On the other hand, anti transcendentalists believe that man is born with sin, they are destructive forces in nature, and one can only find God through works and life experiences. I feel like transcendentalists are optimists and look at things on the bright side which makes their stories more fun to read. For example, Henry David Thoreau's Walden was very intriguing to me. I think it was cool how he gave up his life to just enjoy nature and try to find the meaning of life. There were many inspirational quotes and phrases that I thought were neat. I just think that these stories are much more fun to read than anti transcendentalist stories like The Scarlet Letter. I get much more out of the transcendentalist stories and think they give a great perspective on life.