Individualism In Ralph Waldo Emerson's Essay Our Town

574 Words3 Pages
In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, Self Reliance, he strongly stresses the concept of individualism and being your own person. Emerson believes that community damages our own individual personalities by expecting us to conform to the standards established by society. This is similar, but slightly different to the ideas expressed by Thornton Wilder in his play, Our Town. Our Town follows the events of daily life in a small town where traditions and customs hold great prestige. Two of the main characters in the story are George Gibbs and Emily Webb. When George is on his way to see Emily before their wedding, he encounters Mr. and Mrs. Webb. On page 57, they stress to him the importance of tradition by saying, “you don’t want to be the first