Themes And Answers In Emerson's 'Self-Reliance'

I believe that, essentially, life consists of a series of choices. A grouping of these choices in one direction or another makes us who we are, and ultimately we have control over our lives. What makes one person different from another is his own set of choices. When going through life’s motions, we develop certain worldviews and ideas and values to live by. We develop an opinion of what makes a person “great.” In the well-known essay “Self-Reliance”, Ralph Waldo Emerson provides a beautiful way of approaching these choices, and he reveals a very inspiring set of values centralized around going through life answering only to yourself. I love the way Emerson evaluates the society we live

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.

There is a large abundance of controversy between individuals over certain topics and what they truly mean. An example of one of these topics is self-reliance. Although there are multiple opinions on the meaning and use of self-reliance the true definition, as found in the dictionary is “a reliance on one’s own efforts and abilities” (Merriam-Webster). Many writers spoke in their writing about their past experiences with self-reliance and what they believe it to be. A few of these writers include Doctor Zhivago, Jon Krakauer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Walden, and Peter Buffett. By reading these author’s writings you can clearly understand their views and ideas on self-reliance.

In many works of literature, authors express their viewpoints on society and times in which they live. In the essay “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and the book Walden by Henry David Thoreau, the authors speak out against conformity and materialism in society. Both were romanticism authors during the 1800s. They focused on simplicity and individuality. Both writings can advise teenagers today on the importance of non-conformity and the value of rejecting materialism.

In the essay Self Reliance, Emerson presents the idea of one being able to think independently (apart from society) and then choosing to compromise on those thoughts is suicide. Emerson presents this idea early on in his essay. He states, “envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that man must take himself for better or worse.” This quote describes how having envy or being jealous of someone does not further one’s knowledge and waste their time. It goes on to state that attempting to be someone else is essentially killing one’s own self in terms of personality. This is seen in its most basic form when one follows others blindly never to create their own paths in life. What will most likely lead to a true life lived would be to take one’s self for the bad traits and the good traits. Ultimately, if one decides to be themselves and go through life unphased by such an action as envying or following the masses blindly they can achieve great things on their own.

One quote from “Self-Reliance” that really struck me was “To be great is to be misunderstood” on page 554. This is little part of the central theme of encouraging individualism. Emerson pushes non-conformity to the extent of encouraging not caring what people think. He list so many great revolutionaries in history and describes them as misunderstood. I think this also connects with me because for a long part of my life I felt misunderstood and judged constantly, I wish I would have read this passage through those times because it really shows proves that being great does not mean being a conformist. On page 552, Emerson writes “My life is not an apology, but a life” which also settles with me because I used to feel as if I had to be apologetic

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

It is simply not easy for a teenage kid to always stay true to himself/herself throughout their entire teenage life. A statistic found on lovetoknow.com shows that “70 percent of teens who smoke have friends who smoke or started smoking because of peer pressure” (Zeiger 1). Another fact from statisitcbrain.com shows that “90 Percent of 15-17 year old girls who want to change at least one aspect of their physical appearance” (Brain 1). Examples like these are the problems that 21st century teenage boys and girls deal with everyday. However, reading Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance, might give them useful advice on how to live a better, more happy life. The compilation of short essays that Emerson composed inspire the readers to be nonconformist, and to rely on oneself to do the right thing. These ideas are what the Transcendentalists believed in. The group thought that everyone should move away from what society thinks, to listen to oneself, and to live life the way one wants to. However, today’s society completely contradicts Emerson’s writing. Most citizens, especially teenagers listen to how they are expected live life by society, instead of being who they truly are. Emerson says staying true to yourself and not imitating others will make an individual truly happy, which would help teens make better and smarter decisions when bad influence and temptation come their way.

In fact, he tries to force the readers to be self-reliant in order to obtain their self-realization successfully (Liang 1). For the better understanding of the paragraphs, it is important to know the concept of self-reliance, which is the simple idea reliance of one's own capabilities, judgments and confidence in his one beliefs. Accordingly, Emerson and Mill think alike on the concept that people should impose their ideas and power over the government, not letting them being governed by ideas that they do not agree but instead, by the ideas that they have the confidence and the belief that its right. “What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness” (5). In fact, people have forgotten about the importance to express their own ideas and opinions, resulting with their lives being dictated by the government interests. When this happened, they are not following the goal of the good life, which Ling defines as “the life of growth or change”(3). In order to change the situation for the better, one must to realize the problem and find a solution which can come from personal intuition. In the sense that we are all the same, everyone has the power to face the difficulties that life provides, but it requires a change on

In Emerson’s essay of that name, the recurring theme is self reliance. By Emerson's definition self reliance is thinking for one’s own self and behaving according to one’s own nature regardless of intent. He wants his readers to avoid the mentality of consistency and conformity. Society often tries to instill this mentality into its citizens from birth. According to Emerson, this is why society never advances.

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

“ A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best.”

In Self-Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson claims that replicating someone else is pure suicide, because change is an inspiration that can be for the stableness of one’s well being while others may think it would be for the worse.

Waldo Emerson is genuinely the focal point of the American transcendental movement, setting out a large portion of its thoughts and qualities in his essay,that spoke to the extreme study in theory, religion, and writing. Emerson is the scholarly father of American Transcendentalism. Despite the fact that numerous different scholars would contribute, it was Emerson 's addresses and distributed papers that would offer structure to this occasionally indistinct scope of thoughts. Emerson was a visionary mastermind whose ideals were received by others very quickly. Emerson 's thoughts additionally influenced instructive hypothesis, philosophical and religious practice, and political level headed discussion after some time.