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I. A Brief Introduction of American Individualism
It has been over 200 years since America declared its independence. During the 200 years, America has transformed from a British colony to a highly-developed superpower in the world. American literature has experienced several stages and become more and more mature not only in styles but also in contents. As a mirror that reflects the current of social changes and foretells the direction of the movement of history, American literature will naturally demonstrate American people’s unique philosophy and political value. The early immigrants from Europe were mostly Protestants who moved to the new continent because of political and religious prosecutions. To evade from these prosecutions and pursue the freedom they longed for but could not find in Europe, they came to the new continent with the strong belief of independence, liberty and individualism in their mind. Therefore they were strong-willed to put their political ideal into practice to eradicate feudal tradition and build a society based on the ideology of democracy and liberty. Such political ideals could be sensed more or less in American literature, and the individualism has become the characteristic of it.
Therefore, the common thread throughout American literature has been the emphasis on the individual. It is the individualism of the Pilgrim, inspired by a belief in God to pursue the American experience. It is the individualism of colonists who, instilled with revolutionary fervor, took the concept of the self-made man and developed it in an age of scientific development. There is the individualism of the transcendentalists who, fearing a loss of individualism amidst the growth of individualism, cried for self-reliance and civil disobedience and active dissociation from the constant struggle for economic and social distinction. There is the call for freedom from slavery and the right to individual liberty expressed by the Abolitionist writers.
II. Emerson’s Contribution to the Development of American Individualism
2.1 Individualism and Emerson: the Beginning of Individualism as a School of Philosophy
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, with the increase of the population and the expansion of the territory, American people began to get away from the influence of Europe in politics, philosophy and economy. Backed by such a prosperous economic and cultural background, American people were confident of their bright future and had great passion for their unique culture. They worked hard and went to the west to find more opportunities. They wanted to realize their “American dream”. In politics, in 1800s the characteristics of American politics---democracy and liberty also came into being. In literature, the movement of transcendentalism marks the birth and independence of American culture.
Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) is a great representative of this cultural movement. His works dwell on not only literary issues but also philosophical problems. Individualism he advocates not only accelerates the independence process of American literature but also provides profound philosophical basis for its development. His thoughts become the mainstream of American culture. It reflects American people’s spiritual state.
Emerson’s thoughts on transcendentalism also came from the philosophical inspiration in German idealism. Although the chief intellectual influence on it was German idealism, the works of Kant, and Hegel proved too difficult to master, and it was the romantic expressions of Goethe, Wordsworth and Carlyle that suited his taste best. Therefore New England transcendentalism was not so much a philosophical movement as a literary phenomenon. It was an awaking of the brilliant young Americans in the Romantic Age and a rebellion against the narrow rationalism and conservatism of their fathers. American transcendentalism differs from its European counterpart in that it is essentially secular and humanist. Its general belief is that God is inherent in nature and in man and that each individual has to rely on his own conscience and intuition for spiritual truth. Consequently the transcendentalists helped to release American thoughts and writing from European conventions.
Due to the booming economy, in the eyes of capitalists, nature has inexhaustible abundant resources, and it has great practical value. However, Emerson digs up the spiritual value from it. He points out that the universe is combined by nature and over-soul. Nature has its material and spiritual implications. Man is adjusted to nature through over-soul so that man could live in harmony with principles in his mind, not the convention of society. So individualism is another expression of the equality of human beings, no matter it is from political or religious point of view. To Emerson, “government” is an agency founded on the basis of people’s good wishes; it should provide the opportunity of democracy and liberty for people. Government should make sure that the laws are just to serve for people. Basically Emerson is a reformer; he hopes Plato’s Republic could be set up on this continent. To him, the founding of the United States is an “experiment”. In literary works, human beings’ culture originates from the combination of over-soul and nature. The unity of spirit and the universe enables man to acquire truth, which is reflected in literary works. An art is free of worldly disturbance, going beyond the reality, and it should shoulder the responsibility of social reforms. Writers should have passion in their works and should get inspiration directly from nature.
Some people say that Emerson was greatly influenced by philosophers in India and Persia and the contemporary philosophy of Hegel. Yet his philosophy basically came from his times, and it was closely related to his times and his place. Maybe he Americanized the Eastern philosophies and Greek philosophized to some extent. Emerson agrees with Wordsworth’s pantheism in feeling that God exists everywhere in nature, or in other words, nature is an expression of the great omnipresent spirit. Yet his is a different one from the old doctrine, he emphasizes that each individual soul is part of what he calls the over-soul, therefore nature is really a symbol or material expression of the divinity of man. Through one’s intuition or imagination every individual can and should have direct contact with certain knowledge of universal reality. A man should therefore rely on his intuition and not any social laws or scientific understanding or on the empirical information given to him by his senses to learn the real truth. In one of his famous essays “Self-Reliance”, Emerson says, “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion”, (Baym, 1898:956) “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string”, and “Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist.” (Baym, 1898:957)
Emerson thinks that since all men were basically divine, if men lived according to their own deepest selves they would all be living in harmony with the over-soul and therefore with each other. He felt that conflicts arose because men allowed themselves to be confused by conventional rules, mechanical teaching, and false social values—because they were afraid to be themselves. Throughout his life Emerson reiterated his emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, and the right (and duty) of man to rise to his full potential. Even in his youth time, he realized that solitude and independence were indispensable to an elevated spiritual life. He said, “A room alone was the best thing in my college life,” and “nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind.” (Baym, 1898:958). He advocated that people should make judgments according to the inspiration that came directly from their heart rather than fall back on the opinions of some authorities or sages and that people not have to constrain themselves in order to keep up with conventional values.
2.2 Several Basic Principles of Emerson’s Individualism and Their Influences
The individualism of Emerson is more complicated than those of his predecessors such as Franklin, Cooper and Irving because his theory is based on the integrity of humans, nature and God. It is full of religious flavors and emphasizes on spiritual entity. According to Emerson, spirit is the basic essence in the universe which is omnipresent and is the material that composes the nature. Spirit integrates humans, nature and God together. Nature is created by God, demonstrating God’s greatness and good intentions to human beings. Therefore it becomes the intermediate between humans and God. Because the relationship between humans, nature and God is subjected to spirit, human beings could have easy access to the world of God and could attain the real wisdom without the disturbance of worldly affairs. Once human beings could have direct communication with God, he does not have to rely on others as intellectual sources. What he has to do is to be absorbed into nature, dispelling all the influences that do not belong to the Holy Spirit. In this sense, God, nature and humans become an integrated entity; human beings are involved into the spiritual world of God. It is in this process that the wisdom and intelligence of human beings are greatly promoted, which means each individual obtains power through his friendship with God rather than that with others. As a result, individualism comes into existence. In other words, individualism is the superstructure built on the basis of spirit that pervades in the universe and functions among humans, nature and God. It is under the governing of the spirit that humans, nature and God become a unit. In Circles he said, “The eye is the first circle, the horizon which it forms is the second; and throughout nature this primary figure is repeated without end. It is the highest emblem in the cipher of the world. St. Augustine described the nature of God as a circle whose center was everywhere and its circumstance nowhere”. (Baym, 1898:265) He declares that gods divides a body of human beings into several parts in the time of creation so that he could help himself more effectively, just like the five fingers of a hand would coordinate with each other.#p#分页标题#e#
As the foundation of individualism, transcendentalism holds the conviction that within the nature of man, there was something which “transcended” human experience—an intuition and personal revelation. Emerson places great emphasis on the importance of spiritual life. Man’s relationship to God was a personal matter and was to be established by the individual himself rather than through the church. He held that man was divine in his own right, an opinion opposed to the doctrines held by the Puritan Calvinists in New England. Self-trust and self-reliance were to be practiced at all times and on all occasions, since to trust one’s self was really to trust the “voice of God” speaking intuitively within us. According to him, a person who is in the state of solitude will not isolate himself from the outside world, rather, it will provide him with even a keen insight into wisdom, for deep in everyone’s heart, and there is the ability to acquire knowledge by careful deliberation. And this ability is forever divine. He said: “There are voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world, society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members.”(Baym, 1898:958)
Individualism is the prerequisite to realize one’s potentials and make himself or herself perfect. To protect and constrain oneself from new ideas will get in the way of self-realization. Moreover, Emerson believes that if we follow the voice from our deep heart and choose the way we want to live according to our intuition, we will naturally live in harmony with others. The contradiction and discrepancy among people come into being only because we are confused by those so called “virtuous principles” of life. Those values are prescribed by scholars or authorities to benefit themselves and are imposed on us without any justifications. They are very likely to become useless and out of date. They are not the intrinsic inspiration from the bottom of our hearts. Therefore, we should make efforts to become “ourselves”. Some philosophers believe in “supermen” who are much superior to common people in their wisdom and abilities. But Emerson does not believe in the existence of “supermen”, or rather he believes that all men could be supermen. He felt that the new world gave each the opportunity to become a completely free and independent individual.
In the famous essay Self-Reliance, he went on to say that if they wish to, all young men could do what great men have always done, making their own laws and living according to their own independent principles. Throughout his life Emerson reiterated the emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, and the right of man to rise to his full potential.
The appearance of American individualism is quite different from other movements in that it has solid religious and philosophical foundations. Emerson’s homeland New England is a place where European immigrants—mostly Protestants are densely populated. Protestants believe in the simplicity of religious service. That is to say, everyone as long as he believes in God could have direct communication with God through prayer and good deeds. They can achieve that without the help of organized church. The result is church will have less control over people’s life, and people will tend to explore the inner world of themselves for solutions of their problems rather than turn to church or priest for help. They do not have to participate in any religious activities but still could get guidance from God. I believe this is the religious origin of individualism. Due to the contribution of Emerson, individualism becomes a complicated system and movement which will be destined to have strong influence on the characteristics of American people.
Emerson is good at illustrating his points through the description of nature and reflection on nature. His essays inspire people’s passion for nature and truth. His essays are not only literary works, but also philosophical works. In Self-Reliance, he said,
“Man is timid and apologetic, he is no long upright; he dares not say ‘I am’ but quotes some saint sage. He is ashamed before the blade of grass or the blowing rose. These roses under my window make no reference to former roses or to better ones; they are for what they are; they exist with God to-day. There is no time to them. There is simply the rose; it is perfect in every moment of its existence—But man postpones or remembers; He does not live in the present, but with reverted eyes laments the past, or, heedless of the riches that surround him; stands on tiptoe to foresee the future. He can not be happy and strong until he too lives with nature in the present above time.”(Baym, 1898:946)
In this part, “present” can be understood as the voice from the bottom of heart. Perhaps modern people may have a better understanding of these words; people are busy everyday and becoming wealthier and wealthier, materialism is the doctrine revered by most people, however, they ignore their real “self”—the basic needs, no matter it is spiritual or material. They are only social animals, their values are decided by others, and they follow the current of society blindly.
Emerson believes that human beings should live according to their own principles just like flowers in nature; they should explore the inner world of their minds rather than look around. But how can we do that? To break away from the shackles of some authorities—no matter it is an administrative authority—government or intellectual authority—scholars; First we should have independent thoughts. “Insist on yourself, never imitate.”(Baym, 1898:965) This is the essence of individualism. From that we can see, Irving places emphasis on the “escape” from religions, social traditions, and seeks for the peace in the mind, while in Emerson’s works, individualism becomes a more systematic structure. It is not “escape”, rather, it takes on a more active meaning: the adventure of an exploration for liberty and truth.
Essentially, individualism was an ethical guide to life for a young nation. It appeals to the best side of human nature—confidence in the spark in all men. It was a call to throw off the shackles of customs and traditions and go forward to the development of a new and distinctly American culture. In its insistence on the essential worth and dignity of the individual, it was a powerful force for democracy. Throughout his life Emerson reiterated this emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual, the right of man to rise to full potential, and asserting the inalienable worth of every man.
Emerson called on a series of political reforms: Transcendentalists experimented with communitarian living and supported educational innovation, feminist movement and a reform of church and society generally. They did not resort to extreme forms of political protest.
III. Thoreau’s Contribution to the Development of American Individualism
Another great representative of American transcendentalism and individualism is Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862). He is not only a disciple and friend of Emerson but also a close collaborator of Emerson in shaping the structure of the movement. Emerson had observed that the mind common to the universe is revealed to each individual through his own mind. Similarly, Thoreau understands that a larger world is revealed to each of us through the particular place in which each of us finds himself or herself. At the age of twenty-eight, he moved to the countryside in his hometown Concord by the Lake Walden and started his “famous experiment” of his unique living principles—a solitude life detached from any social activities. During this period, he accomplished his famous book—Walden, which is now considered a classic of American literature and earns him the fame of a prominent American philosopher. In this book, Thoreau uses very elaborate description of the nature—scenery and wild animals to arouse readers’ passion for truth and beauty that consist in nature.
In Walden man and his surroundings, including wild animals, forests, and the whole ecological system interact with each other and harmonize with each other. They are united together and can not be separated from each other. In this unity, man is not only a consumer feeding on nature, or a by-stander, an observer of the nature but also a part of nature. During the two-year life of experiment, Thoreau formulated a set of life principles which seem unimaginable, even eccentric to common people. Thoreau strongly advocates man’s “reforming himself” and this principle is put into practice in Walden. In this book Thoreau elevates his individualism to an insuperable height and this extreme form of individualism calls upon an almost absolute concentration on each man’s reforming himself through reflections.
Although Thoreau is generally considered a faithful disciple of Emerson, and he indeed is a practitioner of transcendentalism by Emerson, the two persons disagreed with each other on some basic principles. The most distinctive disagreement is the function that nature plays in transcendentalism. Emerson sees nature as a physical means to spiritual end. While Thoreau believes that spirit is found in nature, not through it—a crucial distinction. The most obvious example to show Thoreau’s distinctive understanding of the transcendentalism of “higher laws” could be found in the dialogue between the Hermit (Thoreau) and the Poet at the beginning of “Brute Neighbors”. The Hermit withdraws from his meditation to go fishing, which implies that spirit is to be found by experiencing nature, rather than by retreating into the mind. Once we understand the contradiction between the transcendentalist thoughts and the naturalist thoughts in Thoreau’s mind, everything he describes takes on a double meaning, one physical, one symbolic. This is a very good way to express the author’s inner world when he simply describes the concrete existence in nature.#p#分页标题#e#
On the other hand, Thoreau accepts some of Emerson’s doctrines not only in words but also in actions. He believes these doctrines and put them into practice faithfully. In some cases, he has a great passion for these ideas even more than Emerson himself. For example, Emerson’s belief that outward circumstance, the extent of one’s sphere of activity, is meaningless. In Thoreau’s youth he refused an invitation to a European trip and several other opportunities to enlarge his world, and his activity basically centered in Concord his hometown. In the concluding section of Walden Thoreau said,
“What does Africa, what does the West stand for? Is not our interior white on the chart?” “But rather the Mungo park, the Lewis and Clark and Frobisher, of your own streams and oceans, explore your own high latitude—with shiploads of preserved meats to support you—Every man is the lord of a realm beside which the earthly empire of the Czar is but a petty state, a hummock left by the ice—” “Nay, be a Columbus to whole new continents and worlds within your open new channels, not of trade, but of thought.”(Thoreau, 1962:341)
Thoreau insists that we should explore the inner world of ourselves rather than travel around the world to do meaningless work. To Thoreau, the exploration of thoughts is the crucial process for us to achieve individualism. Just like the discovery of the new continent by Columbus, the process of sailing and exploring the unknown world can never be free of danger or frustration. However, it will finally bring us great rewards and glories—the discovery of a new continent, the adventure of thoughts will also promise us abundant rewards—the attainment of individualism, for it will enable us to find out the most unknown potential within ourselves.
And we should note that to some extent Thoreau idealized the image of Emerson in his mind. This was a typical example to show the ideology of transcendentalism that Thoreau firmly held: that one should love the spirit of the person more than his or her worldly self, and that friendship itself is an effective force that renders us to be aware of our highest potential (through our friend’s love of what is best in us) and to love in turn only the dignified part of our friends’ nature. The friendship between true friends is much more than ordinary affection, mutual assistance and mere companionship. In Thoreau’s view, even an animal like a Newfoundland dog could perform those functions. Again, the precious friendship takes place on a level that makes discussing it impossible, and if you have to speak of it, you have already lowered it. “It is a demonstration of the most fantastic imagination and strongest faith.” Thoreau wrote in his essay of friendship in “A Week”.
However, when Emerson returned from Europe with the strong impression of British material success vividly, before he found Thoreau still practicing his renunciations and leading his solitary life. Emerson’s feelings of disappointment finally could no longer be held back and sometimes shortly after his return, he finally revealed to Thoreau about their differences.
“I spoke of friendship, but my friend and I are fishes in their habit. As for taking Thoreau’s arm. I should as soon take the arm of an elm tree—Henry Thoreau is like the wood god who solicits the wandering poet, draws him into vast, bereaves him of his memory, and leaves him naked, plaiting vines, with twigs in his hand. Very seductive are the first stops from the town to the woods, but the end is want and madness.” ( Baym, 1898:1076)
In his pursuit for wildness and in his single-minded research of natural history studies, Thoreau had taken a path which seemed to correspond to madness to Emerson, especially during the period when he himself paid more attention to society and “the town”
3.2 Individualism as a Social Experiment
The practice by Thoreau by the lake of Walden is a symbol of the transformation of transcendentalism from an ideology to an experiment. Individualism could become declared that the American people should abandon the burden of the past, as if they are the wreck of ships.
The unique environment in the new continent, together with the highly-developed science and technology, nurtures a new spirit of the ages, which grows to be a culture—the spirit of experiment. This spirit cultivates several generations of Americans. George Washington once called the founding of the United States as an “experiments with courage and persistence”. New Deal is actually an experiment conducted by the United States government. To Washington and Roosevelt, experiments consist in political innovations; to Thoreau, experiments take the form of a totally different life style. Thoreau reiterates it in Walden.
Obviously Thoreau’s actions recorded in Walden should be seen from a totally different perspective from that of some previous hermits in history. It is undeniable that leaving the noisy towns and settling in the breast of nature are common among all hermits. However, they may have distinctively different purposes. Thoreau had distinctive purposes for his experiment: the experiment of his political ideology and his ideal life style. So the two years Thoreau spent by Walden is an experiment in its essence, it has theoretical value. However, for most other hermits, to enjoy a peaceful and undisturbed life is their ultimate purpose.
3.3 Individualism as a Challenge to Materialism
Individualism is a challenge to materialism, for a simple life is the product of the practice of individualism. It is exactly the life Thoreau led by Walden: a life distant from modern civilization, a plot cultivated by himself, and the exchange of some basic daily articles. Thoreau kept the consumption of daily life to the lowest level. Through his experience of economy, he wanted to convey to people that it is very easy to satisfy the basic need of our body. People do not necessarily have enough money to lead a happy and comfortable life. Thoreau put this into practice. Except a suit made by others, he built the cabin, furnished the doors and windows, baked the bread and cultivated vegetables all by himself. And he exchanged potatoes with others for some articles. And he made a list of them. Finally he succeeded. He said,
“For more than five years I maintained myself thus solely by the labor of my hands, and I found that, by working about six weeks in a year, I could meet all the expenses of living. The whole of my winter, as well as most of my summers, I was free and clear for study.” “In short, I am convinced both by faith and experience, that to maintain one’s self on this earth is not a hardship but a pastime, if we will live simply and wisely.”(Thoreau, 1962:156)
Through the experience Thoreau wants to tell us that the basic needs of life can be satisfied easily. Obviously he is critical of the modern civilization. The devotion of Thoreau is the “Principle of Economy”. He points out: “Human beings pay too much for the improvement of living standard, pay too much life for a little bit luxury and pleasure, is it worth doing?”(Thoreau, 1962:115) And his thoughts push us to dwell on a series of questions: What is the essence of civilization? What is the relationship between a meaningful life and modern civilization? To measure the advance of human society, do we have only one standard: wealth? Whether to accelerate production and the prosperity of business is the only way we have to choose? Human beings continue to make new development in economy, at the same time we are consuming and destroying the natural resources, ecology as well as our habitat. Are we justified in doing it? Shall we stop it? In concluding section of Walden, Thoreau said,
“I learned this, at least, by my experiment: that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined. He will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. He will put some things behind, will pass an invisible boundary; new, universal and more liberal laws will begin to establish themselves around and within him; the old laws be expanded, and interpreted in his favor in a more liberal sense, and he will live with the license of a higher order of beings.”( Thoreau, 1962:113)
Thoreau gives a detailed account of economy in his advice to “Simplify, Simplify”. Like world explorers today, it is better off for us not to ask “How much shall we take?”, but “How little can we take?” to get through life successfully. “Shall we always study to obtain more of those things,” he asks, “and not sometimes to be content with less?” This advice is claiming that less is more and that it is not material achievements but spiritual accomplishments that we should make efforts to achieve. One should simplify bodily needs to leave more time and energy for pursuing transcendental reality. Through the experiment at Walden Pond, Thoreau attempts “to live in a primitive and frontier life, though in the midst of an outward civilization, if only to learn what the gross necessities of life are and what methods have been taken to attain them.”(Thoreau, 1962:113)
Thoreau claims “Money is not required to buy one necessary of the soul”. If money is unnecessary, then so is work, which Thoreau defines as any activity done solely to make money. According to this definition, “As for work, we have not any of any consequence.” For any activity, if it is done out of true necessity then becomes “not a hardship but a pastime, we will live simply and wisely.”(Thoreau, 1962:158)#p#分页标题#e#
Thoreau defines a necessity of man as anything “so important to human life that few, if any, whether from savageness, or poverty, or philosophy, even attempt to do without it”. Then he names four basic needs of human beings: clothing, shelter, food and fuel. Clothing, he complains, has become more fashion than necessary. People are more concerned, he finds, “to have fashionable, or at least clean and unmatched clothes than to have a sound conscience.” We do not need new clothes for our journey, because “a man who has at length something to do will not need to get a new suit to do it in”. For “if there is not a new man, how can the new clothes be made to fit?”(Thoreau, 1962:122)
Clothing, shelter, and food are all finally directed to the one purpose of fuel, however, “to keep the vital heat in us”. The essence to living therefore becomes to maintain our physical vital heat by the most economical, the simplest method, and producing the most amount of the only capital that is ultimately real: time. As an example of his belief that time is more precious than money, and it should be cherished and valued, he uses the example of traveling the thirty miles, a typical day’s travel in his day. He argues that he could walk thirty miles in a day and compare with a person who travels the distance by railway; he will be much quicker, because the cost of the ticket will be ninety cents, which will have to be earned by working a whole day. At the same time, as he walks he can enjoy the landscape and people along the way as well. In this sense, we should save more time in order to enrich our spiritual life rather than spend time making money. The true value of time is not in producing goods and services but in making spiritual and psychological profits in the form of self-culture. Some economists advise that saving money be a form of production because it makes possible new monetary investment. Thoreau similarly advises us to save our time instead to make possible more investment in spiritual self-culture.
If Adam Smith puts forward that economic prosperity depends on freedom for individuals to pursue enlightened self-interests, Thoreau shows his fellow travelers through life that they have freedom about how to make best use of their time of which they are unaware. This freedom, if used properly, will enable them to come to their full spiritual rather than monetary potential.
IV. Conclusion
Through Emerson and Thoreau's contribution to individualism, we know that it is an inevitable product of the territorial expansion and economic prosperity on this continent. And it brings some fresh and humanistic ideologies not only to American people but also to people around the world such as independence in thoughts and actions, democracy and liberty so that even today people could draw spiritual nutrition from these classics. Its influence upon the life of American people is very profound and it is indeed the essence of American’s life principles and doctrines. It is the guidance to American people’s thoughts and actions.
American literary giant Emerson borrows idealism, rationalism from German philosophers and shapes the intrinsic structure of this philosophy. His disciple Thoreau brings it to an unprecedented height by means of his experiments by Walden Pond. All of them reiterated the emphasis on the independence and separateness of the individual and the right of man to rise to his full potential, asserting the worth of every man. Through one’s intuition or imagination every individual can and should have direct contact with universal reality. Man should therefore rely on his intuition but not any social law or scientific understanding or on the empirical information given to him by his senses, to learn the real truth.
In a word, the appearance of individualism is a complicated process. It has created a new era in American literature and developed the characteristics of it. When we are studying American literature, we should pay enough attention to such characteristics.
Bibliography
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