Transcendalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson, did not believe in confining themselves to a single mode of being that everyone else followed. For this experiment, I decided to challenge language and accents. For two days I switched in and out of a British accent, southern accent, and my regular form of speech and gaged people's reactions. Language is something that is used daily and I thought it would be interesting to see how people fared when the person they communicated with had unstable speech patterns.
For the British accent, my close friend told me it was annoying and she wouldn't listen to me if I continued to talk that way which only encouraged me more, because it was fun being different. I donned the British accent upon greeting people and one girl didn't even notice (or comment) until the conversation progressed. Many already knew that it was experimentation, so next time I would test a more objective group, although me with an accent clearly wasn't normal to anyone that knows me. I wore the southern accent more subtle, which felt more natural and comfortable being that I am fromTennessee. However, I've grown out of it mostly, so it was unusual enough to try for this project. My friends rolled their eyes and laughed at my antics because I had a lot of fun with it. Few strangers I approached questioned, but those who did were playful about it.
I've discovered that people will question, if one is suddenly different from what they already know. This must mean that Transcendentalists in the Romantic period had a hard time not succumbing to social pressures and even breaking from styles of life people already expected of them. It takes a strong willed person even to persist in something as silly as fluctuating accents so anything more outrageous to the public eye, of course, was tough. This is because most people ridicule, and those who don't ridicule will judge behind a polite smile, if they notice something suddenly different about what they've become familiar with. I agree with Emerson, though, that one has to find what makes them happy and find people that are okay with whatever that is. It was very fun trying on different accents and, although most scoffed at first, it made my loved ones smile seeing me happy and in bright spirits. Some think its really fun trying on different accents as well and joined me.
It was still very scary trying to be bold and intentionally, consciously, going against how I normally am and continuing the feat. In the future, I won't be reluctant to try something new though because in experiencing ridicule, I realized that encountering people's opinions is not that bad. Plus, others' opinions don't even matter if one is content with themselves and who they are.
11/16/15 P1 Owens AP USH
