The Theme Of Individualism By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Emerson, like his student Thoreau, as was a major member of the transcendental movement that occurred in America during the time period. Marked by a focus on the spirituality of nature and

Through rational argument, Emerson stresses that you must trust yourself to achieve greatness from your own genius, to realize your potential, and to be self-reliant. Your inner genius, when tapped into, allows you to build self-reliance. This follows, similarly, the principles of individualism. Emerson uses rhetoric to explain that through trusting yourself, society, and God, you can truly be a self-reliant individual.

An influential literary movement in the nineteenth century, transcendentalism placed an emphasis on the wonder of nature and its deep connection to the divine. As the two most prominent figures in the transcendentalist movement, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau whole-heartedly embraced these principles. In their essays “Self-Reliance” and “Civil Disobedience”, Emerson and Thoreau, respectively, argue for individuality and personal expression in different manners. In “Self-Reliance”, Emerson calls for individuals to speak their minds and resist societal conformity, while in “Civil Disobedience” Thoreau urged Americans to publicly state their opinions in order to improve their own government.

Ralph Waldo Emerson ingrained into America his acts of individualism, independence, and the general appreciation of nature. Though his ideas were sometimes controversial, he influenced many young minds with this teachings.

Emerson supports individualism by arguing the importance of thinking for yourself rather than conforming to other people’s ideas. This is made evident in the first few sentences of his essay, “To believe in your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men, - that is genius.” Thereby saying those who abandon personal instinct and choose to rely on others opinion, abandon creativity by denying the world their impression based on their own individual experience. He argues Moses, Plato, and Milton should be honored because they spoke what they thought, and did not use the books, traditions, or words of others. However, very few people do this today, instead “he dismisses without notice his thought, because it is his.” This absence of self-reliance does not result in different ideas as the majority of people expect, but further assures the acceptance of the same ideas, which are simply just recycled thoughts.

When Ralph Waldo Emerson emphasizes “individualism and each person’s quest to break free from the trappings of the illusory world in order to discover the godliness of the inner Self” (Emerson 37), his words direct attention to the power of the individual. In fact, he dictates that it is vital to be independent to be successful. Accordingly, his fellow Transcendentalist Nathaniel Hawthorne uses the example of scorned Puritan adulterer Hester Prynne to further promote autonomy even in the midst of “self-constituted judges” (Hawthorne 39) who do not value independence but, instead, conformity. Indeed, “[f]or nonconformity the world whips you with displeasure” (Emerson 43), notes Emerson. Similarly, Hester is forced to wear the scarlet “A” that

Ralph Waldo Emerson is one of the most famous American essayist in 19 century. As a champion of individualism, he has published dozens of essays and gave out more than 1,500 public lectures across the United State to support his idea. Among his well-known works, Self- Reliance is the one which contains his most thorough statement about individualism. According to this essay, Emerson provide that the reason for living is to seek their purpose of life that God gave to them without fear of social opinions. I agree most of his ideas that people should explore and express their own personality without been afraid of others’ thoughts, but I don’t think personality is given by God, it is created by our own.

Ralph Waldo Emerson							I am writing this essay on the beliefs and thoughts of Ralph Waldo Emerson on the subjects of individuality, society, government, technology, and spirituality.

In paragraph 1, the overall synopsis is that people need to view themselves as important, and they have to have the mindset that no two people are the same. They have to believe that their all-time lows will become highs again, but it takes time and effort. What Emerson is means by saying “that divine idea which each of us represents” is that people are too afraid to share their thoughts and opinions when in front of people they aren’t close to. He is saying that people in our world today are too worried about being judged by others. A majority of people can’t even openly and honestly share what they have to say about something without breaking into a sweat or asking others if what they are about to say is correct. We sometimes face situations

Romanticism was a rising art theme in the 1700s to the mid-1800s; this was especially prominent in painting than in sculpture or architecture. Romanticism seemed to have a less rational, more intuitive, and more in touch with the senses way of thinking. However, transcendentalists believed that one could "transcend", or go beyond, what an individual can see, hear, taste, touch, or feel. Individualism was also an important topic; the philosophy focused on the individual and its importance rather than a whole group’s significance. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, Herman Melville, Louisa May Alcott, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow are some noteworthy transcendentalists.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essays; like Nature and Self-Reliance, emphasize on the importance of the individual. Transcendentalists were extremely opposed to the idea of conformity; even more so blind conformity without ever questioning “why.” He considered envy to be ignorance and imitation a suicide of the self (369). To try and become someone else, was to lose sight of who you truly are. Emerson was also convinced that Nature was a way to find and enhance your individuality. “All mean egotism vanished” in nature, allowing people to be free from societal pressures (367). When you find yourself - the self that is not contaminated and contorted by the pressures society, you are able to emulate good into the world and grow as a person. His essays

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, has topics that still find in today’s generation and in past generations. The reason why would be is that the human mind has common behaviors that don’t change. Even though today’s life is different than the ones from the 1800s, Emerson’s words still are viable to present-day thinking because the behaviors of being dependant on others have been around since humans have existed and still continue today.

In the essay, “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson is about the experiences of Emerson’s life and his journal that focus on the importance of self-reliance. According to the dictionary.com, self-reliance means reliance on one's own powers and resources rather than those of others. The purpose of his essay is to motivate his readers to follow their own individual and never be afraid to express their own original ideas rather than follow the social expectation or other’s ideas. He also urges people to be honest in their relationship with others. In the essay, he uses stylistic elements of many metaphors to explain the importance of individuality in a conforming society and how it affects us.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self-Reliance, insists that individualism is influenced on other people’s opinion; his argument is viable because in modern society individualism is changing because people are easily influenced by others.

‘The American Scholar’ was a speech given to the Phi Kappa Beta Society by Ralph Waldo Emerson in Cambridge on August 31st, 1837. At the time he gave the speech, it had only been 60 years since the United States of America broke away from the British. The fledgling country underwent an identity crisis. A distinctly American culture did not exist yet because the young nation still held onto too many ties to Europe. Using his poetic skills, Emerson wanted to change that. With the American Scholar essay, he wished to declare an intellectual Declaration of Independence from the continent of Europe and create an ideal ‘American Scholar’ for the students of the time to strive towards. The essay turned into a testament to American academics, and