“Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson produces a definitive statement of the idea of individualism. Throughout the essay, Emerson follows the major theme of individualism in not only personal, but also societal and religious aspects of one’s life. These ideas may have come to Emerson’s mind because he is a transcendentalist. Transcendentalists believe in the power of independence and knowledge. The passage above captures this theme of individualism and supports the transcendentalist tone for the entire essay. Emerson’s essay points to the idea that it is important for each person to follow whatever his conscience wants at any particular time. Earlier in the essay Emerson writes “the other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them” (554). With this sentence, he is explaining that people are afraid of how others perceive them so when Emerson says that people are of “little minds,” like from my chosen passage, he is talking about those who do care about what others think and change themselves because of it. They fear reversing their previous thoughts because they think that they will be judged. …show more content…
He wants people to be independent thinkers. He doesn’t mind if people contradict themselves because at least those people were regularly thinking. In fact, Emerson wants people to change their minds and improve their previous thoughts in order to make discoveries and never have an empty mind. By being an independent thinker and changing one’s mind, people will make