Brook Farm - Criticism

Criticism

Many people in the community wrote of how much they enjoyed their experience and, in particular, the light-hearted atmosphere. One participant, a man named John Codman, joined the community at the age of 27 in 1843. He wrote, "It was for the meanest a life above humdrum, and for the greatest something far, infinitely far beyond. They looked into the gates of life and saw beyond charming visions, and hopes springing up for all". The idealism of the community sometimes was not met, however. Because the community was officially secular, a variety of religions were represented, though not always amicably. When Isaac Hecker and, later, Sophia Ripley converted to Catholicism, a Protestant Brook Farmer complained, "We are beginning to see wooden crosses around and pictures of saints... and I suspect that rosaries are rattling under aprons."

Nathaniel Hawthorne, eventually elected treasurer of the community, did not enjoy his experience. Initially, he praised the work he was doing, boasting of "what a great, broad-shouldered, elephantine personage I shall become by and by!" Later, he wrote to his wife-to-be Sophia Peabody, "labor is the curse of the world, and nobody can meddle with it without becoming proportionately brutified". After disassociating with the community Hawthorne demanded the return of his initial investment, though he never held any ill will with Ripley, to whom he wrote he would "heartily rejoice at your success—of which I can see no reasonable doubt".

Many outside the community were critical of Brook Farm, especially in the press. The New York Observer, for example, suggested that, "The Associationists, under the pretense of a desire to promote order and morals, design to overthrow the marriage institution, and in the place of the divine law, to substitute the 'passions' as the proper regulator of the intercourse of the sexes", concluding that they were "secretly and industriously aiming to destroy the foundation of society". Critic Edgar Allan Poe expressed his opinions on the community in an article titled "Brook Farm" in the December 13, 1845, issue of the Broadway Journal. He wrote that he had "sincere respect" for the group and that its journal, The Harbinger, was "conducted by an assemblage of well-read persons who mean no harm—and who, perhaps, can do no less". Despite many critics, none suggested George Ripley be replaced as Brook Farm's leader.

Ralph Waldo Emerson never joined the Brook Farm community, despite several invitations. He wrote to Ripley on December 15, 1840, of his "conviction that the Community is not good for me". He also questioned the idealism of the community, particularly its optimism that all members would equally share responsibility and workload. As he wrote, "The country members naturally were surprised to observe that one man ploughed all day and one looked out of a window all day... and both received at night the same wages". Twenty years later, Emerson publicly denounced the experiment in his collection of essays titled The Conduct of Life. Charles Lane, one of the founders of another community called Fruitlands, thought the Brook Farmers lived a lifestyle that did not sacrifice enough. As he said, they were "playing away their youth and day-time in a miserably joyous frivolous manner". Like other communities, Brook Farm was criticized for its potential to break up the nuclear family because of its focus on working as a larger community. After its conversion to Fourierism, the Transcendentalists showed less support for the experiment. Henry David Thoreau questioned the community members' idealism and wrote in his journal, "As for these communities, I think I had rather keep bachelor's hall in hell than go to board in heaven". Even Sophia Ripley later questioned their original optimism, referring to it as "childish, empty, & sad".