I exist

A man said to the universe: “Sir, I exist!” “However,” replied the universe, “The fact has not created in me A sense of obligation.” This quote from Stephan Crane shows how human is so insignificant compare to the whole universe. Americans during the Romanticism were extremely optimistic and cheerful. Since their victorious Independence war, they think of themselves as unstoppable and a strong nation. People were idealistic and thinking the future was bright and clear for them. Only until the American Civil War come around about in 1850s that Americans started to realize that their nation which they are so proud of being democratic and fair was instead filled with racism and slavery. Due to whether to abolish slavery or keep it to continue America’s economic strength, Americans divided themselves into the North and South, which broke out to be a bloody battle that Americans were faced to kill their own brothers. This poem portrays a feeling that American may be so proud of themselves that they are independent from Great Britain and create the first democratic government. Yet, the world doesn’t really care about their existence that compare to the universe and the whole galaxy, humans are really nothing.