Independence In Rudy Rucker's As Above, So Below

DBQ: The Industrial Boom In the 1860s, industries in Europe were booming. The United States, however, was not developing very much at all. In fact, we were busy fighting a Civil War, and cleaning up the mess afterwards, so there really was not much time or money for the development of huge factories and businesses. In time, the Civil War and Reconstruction eras ended, and America was rapidly growing its industries.

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay titled “Self-Reliance” he speaks on the topic of the individual, creating the idea that an individual being independent leads to greatness. Emerson’s writing within this memoir is relatable to young individuals who are looking for themselves, an individual must avoid conformity and false consistency while following their own thoughts making themselves an individual. Within the essay, Emerson uses a range of rhetorical devices to prove that every individual can do great by being an individual and not like everyone else, something that young people everywhere should hear while growing up with the heinous act of peer pressure.

Outliers: The Story of Success, by Malcolm Gladwell, and the essay Self-Reliance, by Ralph Waldo Emerson, interact with each other quite well with many similarities and differences. In Gladwell’s book, he shares many stories of how people become successful, explaining that success is not achieved based on the character traits and work habits of an individual. He says, “We all know that successful people come from hardy seeds. But do we know enough about the sunlight that warmed them, the soil in which they put down the roots…” (Gladwell, 20) Gladwell insists that success counts on where an individual comes from and all aspects of their life. However, in Self-Reliance, Emerson never mentions success. He explains the importance of individualism and free thought. “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think.” (Emerson, 9) Emerson argues that everyone should go out and seek the life that pleases them, whether that is success, or not. Despite the differences in the two texts, in their writings, both authors show how individuals can step away from the rest of society and become outliers.

He who is free does not consent to the “norms” of society—but however takes the path that illustrates the significance of the individual. Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance exhibits that the pathway to individualism, creativity, and righteousness is “to believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men…” (Emerson 1) Freedom is the water in the desert—only available to those who know how to find it—the Emersonian genius, present in Ayn Rand’s Anthem, is by far more prone to salvation than that of the coexisting counterpart who will reach an inevitable self-damnation, found in Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Morrison’s The Bluest Eye. Those who focus not on the method of acceptance into society but rather upon the idealism of the importance of solitude are capable of invention—“for only the individual can produce new ideas” (Isaacson 33).

The art of this time is extremely fascinating because of the change of views, there were many different styles of art emerging. Pieter Bruegel was a popular artist because of his satirical paintings. As seen in Triumph of Death (below) all of the people in the painting are representing

“Your life will be no better than the plans you make and the action you take. You are the architect and builder of your own life, fortune, destiny.” This thought was made by Alfred A. Montapret. He is trying to interpret that you are the one that controls your life so, build it how you want it to be. Though person can be miserable, but in the end their life will be just how they planned. Life does not always stay the way you plan, stuff gets in the way and it will become confusing, but it will work itself out. With this in mind, society wants the best for people, so their life will be just how they planned it to be. Society will force the Native Americans to do things they want to, but it just wants them to be able to communicate with different

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, he claims that everyone can be independent; however, his argument is quixotic today because most individuals in present times are ignorant and do not value themselves as they should.

Ralph Emerson composed “self-reliance” in 1841. Emerson writing became one of the most influential pieces of writing on American Spirit of his time. He believes that we should strive to keep and have individuality, we shouldn’t conform to others. He shows this through his many rhetorical strategies such as irony, metaphors, and allusion.

He suggests that we focus more on individual progress instead of societal progress. Many could interpret his view as an absolute separation of the individual from the rest of the world. I, on the other hand, contend that he simply believed that we should not allow society to overbear on us and drew a line between appreciating solitude and pursuing absolute aloneness. With a weak individuality, conformity becomes oppression. We must believe in our own ideas because we are unique. We cannot feel fulfilled or successful in our lives if we live the life of someone else.

As and sane person, I went inside his house and found Emerson sitting, and writing one of his works, Self-Reliance. Being a good host, he invited me to lunch and we talked about his essay. His essay was profound as it stated that we are who we are and that we should be independent of others. I will never forget what he told me – “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of

Everyone in this planet called Earth, has their own different ways of expressing feelings, different learning strategies, and different talents. In this piece of writing, Emerson explains how and why independence is what has created today’s society. Emerson explains these thoughts by using metaphors, common sense, similes and imagery.

1. The main theme of the piece “Self-Reliance” is that one should never conform to the way that society views that they should because in doing that, a person loses their individuality. Emerson believed that a person should, “Speak [their] latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense,” meaning that if a person chooses to march to the beat of their own drum, then nobody can tell them their opinion is wrong because at least they are taking a chance and speaking their mind. Emerson’s definition of self-reliance is similar to the common use because both definitions discuss how one should take care of personal needs and be independent. Emerson himself stated that, “the great man is he who

From Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the essay talks about how society has a adverse effect on someone personal growth and abilities. The society controls how someone acts and thinks, as an example from Emerson’s essay, “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its member” (Emerson 369). This idea that society controls us, I found that it’s very provoking because it true that society gives us expectations or norms that everyone should be achieve.

She disobeyed her parents and ended up in a terrible accident and screwed up big time. The reason of her disobedience was her strong attitude to being independent and not listen to logic as it will crumble her independence. The message being told here is that you can still be independent but still listen to your parents or elders because they know what is right from wrong, through their past experiences so you can avoid getting in trouble and into bad situations.  “ I am still an independent woman, but I have a different attitude towards life learnings life’s little lessons - sometimes the hard way.” Through independence mistakes can happen and we will learn from it. But also there are people around us who will guide us to make the right decision, listening and following good directions is also part of independence.

To exists and live on our terms we must convert our life into a creative project. Only by doing this can we sufficiently challenge ourselves to reach our full potential and figure out what it is that we want to dedicate our life to and how we wish to leave a mark in history. To make our life into a creative project, we must consistently set goals and to be a critical thinker by asking questions. Unfortunately, some obstacles prevent us from living our life on our terms. Dependency and legitimacy are why others have authority over us; however, once we are forced or reasoned to do something, be someone, etc. they lose that power, and that’s the time that we must take action. We are consistently ruled by others and the “norms” that society established whether it is knowingly or unconsciously. The fact that others rule us can eventually cause us to feel alienated and once we recognize that isolation, we begin to rebel.