Narcissism Analysis

Narcissism is a term which derived from an ancient Greek legend. Narcissus, a Greek mythological character, was renowned by his beauty. All of his egoism and self-centricity contributed to the formation of the term Narcissism, a word widely used today, in the twenty-first century. The term refers to egoistic behavior and admiration of one’s own attributes and achievements. As the new generations are becoming more and more self-centered, more and more articles are being written about egoism. Even in the medieval times, psychologists noticed that the trend of egoism growing as the generations progressed. Most people tend to discourage egoism in youth. Larry Gordon and Louis Sahagun, for example, argue that egoism in today’s generation is growing

According to him, “a great man” would be the one, who in a large crowd, keeps his opinion and shows tenacity. The statement has a great moral- don’t follow the flock of sheep; it is true in many cases, and I agree with Emerson on this. However, another point Emerson tries to make is that a person should be himself. If his nature is similar to that of Narcissus, he/she should not try to change it, because that is what he/she is. The nature of a person, is the “centre of all things” (Emerson). I totally disagree with the author on this issue. In my opinion, if a person feels the need to change, he/she should change. As an analogy, if a person had a troubled past, they should try to change! In his essay, Emerson urges people to remain consistent with their past. However, this statement does not make sense in some cases. So, Emerson wants every person to remain themselves and not adapt to “society’s demands and conventions” (Emerson). Consequently, his response to Gordon’s and Sahagun’s article would be that every person should have tenacity in them, should not blindly follow the crowd, and be themselves. Emerson would see the egoistic nature of the people of Gen Y, and would be glad if it stayed the same. A change in the egoistic nature would directly contradict to his opinion, so the youth should remain as egoistic as they are now. Despite the fact that the definitions of egoism vary depending on the source, egoism and Self-Reliance could have very similar meanings. Consequently, Emerson would have nothing against people being egoistic, relying on themselves, and thinking only about themselves. According to Self-Reliance, if there is a rising ego, the ego should be rising and never end. Gordon and Sahagun, on the other hand, argue that there should be a stopping point to the youth’s egoism and self-centricity. They consider that