Claudine Caluza

Storer
Block 5
English III
January 21, 2020
Socratic Seminar Reflection
My group was first in the inner circle, and we decided to discuss Emerson’s “Nature”.
Our group leader, Samantha decided to focus on the questions circled on opinion, like “Which of
Emerson’s ideas do you think are true in light of your own experiences?”. My group started off
strong, once Samantha introduced this question, she immediately added her view so that we can
build up on it, which is that humans do not appreciate things in nature. I found it interesting that
when Niala explained how this text can relate to a God type of standpoint, Wen Tao disagreed
with her and explained his view on religion. He introduced a new standpoint that has nothing to
do with God, which went on about how things could be appreciated without having a God-
complex. This comment eventually led to the discussion of the fourth Emerson question which
is, “What impact, if any, do you think Emerson’s religious background might have had on his
writing?”. Both Kate and James included evidence to support their claim that humans do not
appreciate things and engaged in conversation with my other group mates.
During the first question, I agreed with Samantha’s point that humanity takes natural
beauty for granted. After Kate mentions that we do not really appreciate things until they are
gone, I jumped in and added on, even utilizing current events such as the fires in Australia.
Although this was not part of the text, mentioning the Australia fires to get my point across and
clearer to others was my strongest move. I focused on the disappearance of nature, like how
Emerson mentioned that if all the stars disappeared, we would appreciate it more the less it
appeared. By doing this I was building off multiple ideas, such as Samantha’s and Kates, and
then including my own new idea supported by a fact that everyone is aware of. I also spoke
clearly so that my peers can hear me better, and I readily responded to my classmates. In order to
improve my next discussion, I want to come prepared with more current events to strengthen our
understanding of what message the text is supposed to convey towards the reader.
A thesis statement I would write for this text would be, “Emerson’s Nature teaches the
audience that humanity takes things for granted because they do not pay attention to nature, are
too distracted, and only want it when things when it is gone”. In this imaginary essay, my main
point would be the star quote, where it mentions a hypothetical situation in which stars would
only appear once a thousand years. While Emerson is describing nature, he tends to romanticize
it in a way so that the audience can think about it in a positive and calming way. This affects the
audience because once they think about this, they soon seek nature, and crave the feelings that
the text implies. The nature that Emerson describes is probably not where the audience is, so by
him romanticizing it he wants the audience to go out and explore nature. The effect that this has
on the reader shows how humans take things for granted is because once they hear about it in a
way that makes them feel a certain emotion and have a lack of it, they want to experience it/have
it, and if it rare they will enjoy it a lot when they have it. If they have it for a long time though,
they will not enjoy it.
I agree with Emerson’s idea that one does not appreciate things when they have it and
appreciate it when they don’t. I can relate this to the death of family members, like you don’t
really miss them until they are truly gone from your life. Of course, they’re there, you hang out
with them, and you live life, but once they are gone you just have that heart sinking realization
you can’t get it back. So, you look back at your memories and photos and that is when you truly
treasure them. Same with the Australia fires as well, like nobody payed full attention to Australia
until is literally started to burn away, because it almost seems hopeless to get restore it. This text
also made me realize how lucky I am to live this life, because there are some people with
disabilities or diseases not really living life to the fullest, but I am fine yet I do not think I am
really living life.