Self Reliance Rhetorical Analysis

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

I share this view of society with Emerson: “Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue of request is conformity. Self-Reliance is its aversion.”

In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson adopts the rhetorical strategy of aphorisms to annex what he thinks by enriching his thesis, while allowing a pause in the reader’s mind to comprehend just what he is saying. Emerson’s honest aphorism advises people to actually believe in themselves in order to be triumphant by saying, “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men, --- that is genius” (Emerson 1) and “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson 3). The aphorism demonstrates that believing in themselves, and what is important to them, the reader, is what everyone else does, that being an individual is a genius idea. Comparing this to what society, especially the younger individuals with in society, they themselves hear differently, that they

In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance,” Emerson calls for each person in society to be wholly true to themselves. He claims that it is most rewarding to the individual and the society for people to believe in one’s own thoughts and not in the thoughts of others. Emerson believes that conformity will ultimately lead to an individual’s demise because by living for others, people are not being true to themselves. Therefore in order to have a well-formed society, citizens should focus inward and have confidence in their own ideas before beginning to look towards other individuals; moreover, Emerson calls individuals not only in “Self-Reliance,” but also in numerous essays to act independently from conformity and to live for themselves.

When young adults are presented with the expectation to join society, they lose the capability to trust their own opinions and enact judgment based on their morals. The inability for young adults to understand their full potential translates to them not understanding how they can achieve their future endeavors. Ralph Waldo Emerson, a prominent Transcendentalist, flourished society’s perspective on cherishing what they have without the help of aids with his essay, “Self-Reliance.” Emerson’s essay uses the stylistic techniques of compare and contrast along with cause and effect. He contradicts society’s claims of what is deemed self-reliance and associates their views with false arguments. On the other hand, Henry David Thoreau, a widely-known philosopher, communicated his beliefs of self-reliance with his personal essay, “Where I Lived and What I Lived For.” Thoreau demonstrates his experience in the woods as one of the most important times in his life where he learned about life’s necessities and how to rely on himself. Both Emerson and Thoreau interpret the lack of reliance in an individual as an inhibiting factor in a young adult’s ability to achieve greateness in their introduction, development, and conclusion paragraphs.

In “Self Reliance”, Emerson discusses being one’s own person and not allowing society to mold someone like a piece of clay; “Trust thyself” are the exact words he used. Trusting oneself means it is okay to be different if one wants or chooses to be different. It

Self-Reliance reflects Emerson’s beliefs on Transcendentalism by stating how Emerson believes in inspiration, happiness, and the spiritual measures of inspiration through the depth of the human mind itself. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried” (Pg. 774). Emerson in Self-Reliance puts majority of the focus on people trusting themselves, using good judgement, and their own knowledge because a new independent idea makes history not the idea that is copied. “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Pg. 774). Through this idea that Emerson created, the thought of people trusting themselves, using good judgement, and their own knowledge

In "Self-Reliance" Emerson talks about being disgusted by society. He believed that the individual mind, body, and spirit trumps society. According to the text, one of the reasons many flee from self-reliance to the comforting society of custom and tradition, is because of the need to appear consistent in the eyes of others. Every individual has a network of drives, beliefs, attitudes and desires, and are forever changing and developing. To stay true to this inner law means we need to be faithful to this character we hold, and contracdict

In a paragraph in Self-Reliance, Emerson conveys his point that consistency is bad and does this using a linear argument. ‘cept I'm going to focus on the consistency aspect of it. More specifically, Intra-party conflicts when a person within a given party has inconsistent views to their respective party's platform. And though there are many things Emerson and I do not see eye to eye on, his statement that a foolish consistency “is the hobgoblin of little minds” I actually agree with.

Imagine a world where there is no society. Imagine if there was no technology and everybody just lived in isolation. In Emerson’s essay, “Self-Reliance,” he illustrates his ideas on the tenet by using metaphors. Nonconformity means being mentally and physically separated from society, a quality which sometimes overlaps with the ideas behind self-reliance. In “Where I Lived and What I Lived For,” Thoreau uses personal experiences, description, and problem-and-solution. Emerson and Thoreau begin by using different techniques, Thoreau using problem-and-solution and description, while Emerson uses cause-and-effect, yet both use cause-and-effect to develop the idea that one should be independent of society in the end.

Emerson, a prominent founder of the Transcendentalist movement, wrote the essay “Self-Reliance,” in which he uses various rhetorical strategies and devices to convey his message to the reader, urging the reader to strive to be unique. Emerson begins the essay by asserting what genius is to him: “To believe in your own thought, to believe what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men—that’s genius” (Emerson). Emerson purposefully uses second-person pronoun to address the audience directly, and through that, he is able to draw the reader’s attention to his stance on self-reliance, a quality of a genius. He encourages one to be fearless in expressing one’s thoughts and opinions,

In the Piece “Self-reliance” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the greatest prominent writers in America, speaking to the individual about being true to who people are, and not who society expects people to be. Exploring the concept that people achieve greatness by rising above the average person; he discusses making one’s thoughts extraordinary, instead of just ordinary. Even though he is using strategies such as metaphors and other figurative language, he includes effective style as well. Applying divine figurative language to express the importance of being who people are, Emerson remarks, “Always the soul hears an admonition in such lines […]” (1) On the grounds that people need to listen to their hearts, he depicts this image of

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Self-Reliance” was written in 1841 in New England during the Transcendentalist Movement, which was a revolt against the “Age of Reason” and the beginning of Romanticism. Emerson’s essay is about Transcendentalism, the belief that every human has his own way of thinking and personal inborn knowledge to build his opinion, independent from the common beliefs of the community and he should believe in and express his opinion to be successful. Emerson supports the idea of Transcendentalism by urging his readers to trust their own ideas, beliefs and common sense, to listen to and to trust their inner voice and to hold the popular opinion back from influencing their way of thinking, if they want to be successful. He tells

Self Reliance was composed by Ralph Waldo Emerson in the year 1841. Throughout the essay, Emerson is expressing his thoughts about how people should not rely on others for their own happiness. He believes that people must be self reliant. This idea of “self reliance” was part of the basis of transcendentalism. Ralph Waldo Emerson was involved in the period of transcendentalism (Davidson, DeLay, Heyrman, Lytle, & Stoff, 2015).

Emerson's idea of self-reliance provides a look into living a life of solitude, and understanding the mysteries in life. He thinks of self-reliance as some sort of "soul-finding". Emerson believes in, defying the society and becoming one with yourself: " I