not quite Eustace, not quite...

            Eustace Conway strives to be a transcendentalist, but fails to fully escape from societal standards physically. Mentally, he fully supports and glorifies nature and the forces behind it in his day to day life in the style of the Native Americans. However, he soon finds out how unrealistic it is to be able to transcend society’s characteristics, no matter how ugly they might seem, to achieve his own personal freedom. He finds himself being pulled back again and again to meet expectations provided to him by society so that he may further appreciate and understand his own dreams. Gilbert feels that Eustace was able to transcend the limitations of society and life placed before him. Through proving his own fortitude and endurance in his journeys to going beyond the norm of societal standards and achieving turtle island Eustace goes above himself, and the world he lives in, time and time again. I do not feel that he was a true transcendentalist. He may have transcended his physical limitations as a human, but emotionally and characteristically he was unable to move forward and adapt to the people around him. He was a product of his father and he was never able to beat that connection and remained chained to the same high standards that he once faced.