Emersons self reliance :: essays research papers

R.W. Emersons Self-RelianceThe essay has three study divisions the importance of self-reliance (paragraphs 1-17), self-reliance and the individual (paragraphs 18-32), and self-reliance and society (paragraphs 33-50). As a whole, it promotes self-reliance as an ideal, even a virtue, and contrasts it with various modes of colony or conformity.Self-Reliance Paragraphs 1-17. The Importance of Self-Reliance. Emerson begins his major work on individualism by asserting the importance of thinking for oneself rather than meekly evaluate other peoples ideas. As in almost tout ensemble of his work, he promotes individual experience over the knowledge gained from books To believe that what is on-key in your private heart is true for all menthat is genius. The soulfulness who scorns personal intuition and, instead, chooses to rely on others opinions lacks the creative power indispensable for robust, bold individualism. This absence of conviction results not in different ideas, as this per son expects, but in the acceptance of the same ideasnow victimized thoughtsthat this person initially intuited.The lesson Emerson would have us learn? Trust thyself, a motto that ties together this first section of the essay. To rely on others judgments is cowardly, without inhalant or hope. A person with self-esteem, on the other hand, exhibits originality and is childlike secure by selfish needsyet mature. It is to this adventure of self-trust that Emerson invites us We be to be guides and adventurers, destined to participate in an act of creation simulate on the classical myth of bringing order out of chaos.Although we capability question his characterizing the self-esteemed individual as childlike, Emerson maintains that children provide models of self-reliant behavior because they are too young to be cynical, indecisive, or hypocritical. He draws an analogy mingled with boys and the idealized individual Both are masters of self-reliance because they hold their own stan dards to all they see, and because their loyalties cannot be coerced. This rebellious individualism contrasts with the attitude of wakeful adults, who, because they are overly concerned with reputation, approval, and the opinion of others, are always hesitant or unsure consequently, adults have great difficulty acting ad lib or genuinely.Emerson now focuses his attention on the importance of an individuals resisting pressure to conform to external norms, including those of society, which conspires to defeat self-reliance in its members. The action of so-called maturing becomes a process of conforming that Emerson challenges. In the paragraph that begins with the feature article aphorism Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist, he asserts a radical, even extreme, position on the matter.