Transcendentalist or not?

[ruru]

Was Gary being a transcendentalist by performing the poem in a funny way or was he trying to make his peers like him?
I think that he was trying to fit in. This guy loves poetry, he seriously has respect for it. I don't think he would find it right to butcher it with a funny accent on stage.i think he eventually gave up and tried to make people like him. And at the end he was hesitant of telling his teacher why he changed his performance.
What do u think?

[lukejoo1092]

I think he was a bit of a transcendentalist at first but he later changed and turned out to follow the majority. When he first recited the poem in class, everyone laughed at him but he didn't care. He wasn't discouraged and still said that he'll go on the talent show, reciting his poem. But later when he saw a friend recite a poem in a funny way, he thought that he should do it too in order to put up a better performance on the show. Eventually, he got the applaud he wanted. So yeah, at first he was doing what he wanted to do despite the ridicule of others but later he started to concern about the audience of the show and changed his method of reciting, ending up trying to please the crowd rather than purely pursuing what he wants.

[dwsuh1]

I think he was transendentalist but he stoped being transendentliast while he goes on the story. If you see begining of the story he is all like serious and he follows instinct. He decided to walk 12 miles to school just to read his favorite chapters and sing his favorite songs which is kind following the instinct. But later on as he went on the talent show he thought and decided to follow to society and act all funny and try to be favored by others by doing diffrent accents and making the poem funny instead of serious.

[sergeyfen]

I think he was a trancendentalist at first before people started likin it, as soon as his peers starting applausing and asking for more that is the moment when he really started enjoying it. He was doing it fit in because he already fitted in since they started liking him and he knew that, he was also really confident compare to what he was before.

[brandonina]

I agree with the people above. I believe he was originally a transcendentalist but his deed was actually not a trait of transcendentalist. The fact that he performed his poem by using British accent just because of his classmates tells us that he didn't act out of his true instinct. He loves quoting poems for several miles on the way home (with no English accent), perhaps dramatically. He may have subconsciously wanted to get love from everybody and followed the majority by doing what he thinks they want.

[JustinK.]

I think Gary was transcendental. He himself has the talent to recite poems and have the habit of doing so. So i think it isn't too much of a new act for him. He was just being himself. I believe he had such humor in him. I don't think he was following the crowd. He probably saw the audience's reactions and enjoyed it. So he just continued his act(being himself).

[misatonakano]

He trast his thinking and himself then performed poem. He was trancedentalism.

[james]

I don't think he was a transcendentalist. If he was, he wouldn't make the poem sound funny, instead, he'll be performing the poem in his own way(serious and stuff) because he's the type of guy who'd walk miles just to think of the poems.. Why would he be making fun of it? I think he was doing it so that he could make people like him, which is not being a transcendentalist. Also, joining this talent show is already all about the girl he likes being sarcastic. Wasn't it already about trying to show people what he kind of person he could b?

[linnie]

I think that he is not true transcendentalist. Yes, he went up on the stage even though many people considered the poem was "inferior material" for the talent show. Lots of people laughed at him. Inspite of others scornful ideas, he presented in front of whole school. However, he changed the poem to make people like it, and followed what others think. He used British accent which was popular at that time in the school, which is following the society. This isn't one of the aspects of the transcendentalism. So I also don't think Gary Keillor is the true transcendentalist.

And I think he didn't follow his instinct. After the talent show, he hesitated and lied to teacher that he wasn't feeling well and felt nervous and that was why he had to sound weird. But he knew it wasn't the case. So he knew that it was wrong, at least in his opinion. Than he should have followed his opinion about right and wrong. He should have followed his instinct, which was telling him to do right thing. But he didn't. So I think he is not true transcendentalist.

[yeajinchoi]

I agree with a few of the people here. Up to where Gary recited the poem in class and decided to do it in the talent show despite the fact that everyone hates it, he was being a transcendentalist, not caring about what anyone else think. BUT when Gary changed the poem to make it funny for the audience he was giving in to what the majority wanted and had decided to change the style of the poem. That was giving in. This story showed two sides of Gary. The transcendentalist side and the peer-pressured side

[esther]

I thinkhe was doing that more because we wanted his peers to like him. His personality was truly a transcendentalist, but how he performed onstage was more of a peer thing. I think he just seized the day doing that, instead of being a transcendentalist.

[sazad100]

I think he was trying to fit in with his peers rather than just doing it to be different. He wanted to impress the audience so he did it in a funny way. If he liked the way he recited in class then he would have done it and not care about th e audience. But he changed it to be funny and be remembered.

[nadiraamalina]

I think that he was not being a transcendentalist. If he was being a transcendentalist, he would have shown that he loved poetry when he recited the poem. Instead, he somewhat mocked it by reciting the poem in a weird accent. But the ending's pretty open for interpretation. Gary could've ended up being a transcendentalist, accepted by his peers for his uncommon interests. And he is a pretty funny guy. Society flocks to what's funny.

[sorn]

I think that he was a transcendentalist at first and he knew that he was. But to fix the problem that was happening on the stage, he decided to make fun of himself cause he knew that it was something that the audiences liked. Sometimes you just have to do something that you don't like to please the majority of the people in our society.

[mirim002]

Gary was a transcendentalist but like, what sorn says, he changed becuase he did what the audience wanted him to do. He just chose to do what other people wanted him to do, so that didnt make him a transcendentalist.