Harold and Maude/OT/Transcendentalism Essay

Mrs. Topham

We have discussed Our Town and the writings of Thoreau and Emerson. An essential element of the former is the idea that we do not, as a species, have the capacity to love and understand our lives as we live them. An essential element of the latter is the idea that we need to live our lives as we choose, not as society dictates. The movie “Harold and Maude” follows two people whose experiences may reasonably be said to illustrate both of these ideas, along with many others we have seen in the writings we have discussed.

Write a paper of approximately two to three pages in which you use the movie as a means of exploring the ideas of Our Town, transcendentalism, or both. Use quotes and examples from the movie, but also refer to the play or the essays of Thoreau and/or Emerson. Your FIRST draft of this will be due on Monday; it must be typed as if you would be handing it in. I will allow you the opportunity to confer about it and revise it prior to a final draft.

Here are some quotes from the movie to assist you in your discussion:

Cat Stevens songs

• “On and on you go. The seconds tick the time out. There’s so much left to know and I’m on the road to find out.”

• “I wish I knew what makes me me and what makes you you.”

• “Lord my body has been a good friend but I won’t need it when I reach the end. Miles from nowhere; guess I’ll take my time to reach there.”

• “While the sinners sin, the children play.”

• “I used to walk along; every step seemed the same.”

• “I know we’ve come a long way. We’re changing day to day. But tell me where do the children play?”

• “(The roads) just go on and on and it seems that you can’t get off.”

• “If you want to sing out sing out. If you want to be free be free. There’s a million things to be; you know that there are. You can do what you want--the opportunity’s on. And if you find a new day you can do it today. You can make it all true and you can make it undo--you see, it’s easy.”

• “I think I see the light coming through me.”

• “Trouble, oh trouble set me free. I have seen your face and it’s too much for me.”

Maude-isms

• “For aesthetic appreciation, always a little time.”

• “Burials and births--one linked to the other, the great circle of life.”

• “I like to keep variety--always looking for the new experience.

• “People get upset because they feel they have a hold on to things. I’m just here as a reminder: Here today, gone tomorrow, so don’t hold onto things.”

• “How the world still dearly loves a cage.”

• “Try something new each day. After all we are given life to find it out. It doesn’t last forever.”

• “Greet the dawn with a breath of fire.”

• “Is it enough?”

• “I like to watch things grow. They grow and bloom and fade and die and change into something else. Ah life...”

• “I feel that much of the world’s sorrow comes from people who are this yet allow themselves to be treated as that.”

• “Consistency is not really a human trait.

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• “Everybody should be able to make some music; that’s the cosmic dance.”

• “The earth is my body...my head is in the stars.”

• “Isn’t it wonderful? All around us living things!”

• “Vice...virtue..it’s best not to be too moral; you cheat yourself out of too much life. Aim above morality; if you apply that to life, then you’re bound to live it fully.”

• “Kings die...kingdoms fell...I don’t regret the kingdoms, What sense in borders and patriotism? But I miss the kings.”

• “A lot of people enjoy being dead. But they’re not dead really; they’re just backing away from life...Play as well as you can. L-I-V-E live! Otherwise you’ve got nothing to talk about in the locker room.”

• “Everyone has the right to make an ass out of themselves; you can’t let the world judge you too much.”

• Harold: You sure have a way with people.

Maude: Well, they’re my species.

• Harold: I love you!

Maude: Oh, Harold. That is wonderful. Go and love some more.