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Ralph Waldo Emerson's Argumentative Essay

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1. According to the opening statement, every person realizes at some point in their education that they must become self-reliant. It states that every person will eventually recognize that although the world is full of good, none of it will go to them unless they work for it. 2. In the second paragraph, Emerson expresses that every person is destined to live in their own way and that they should embrace that life, not shy away from it. 3. Emerson believes that society as a whole holds back those striving for greatness. He believes that society prevents people from being completely self-reliant, and that it causes people to go against each other. 4. In paragraph three, it is implied that self-reliance is an aversion to society as a whole. …show more content…

In this one, he is basically saying that that bad memory is dead, and it is time to forget about it and move on. Brumgardt 3 8. I somewhat agree with Emerson's view of self-reliance. However, I believe there are other ways of being self-reliant that does not so much take away from others as he seems to want in the third paragraph. Other than this, I agree that it is not good to let memories limit yourself and you should always strive to be the best that you can be without letting others hold you down. 9. Emerson's writing is influential. He maintains a steady tone that makes it seem like he is preaching but at the same time he allows those reading to really contemplate what he is saying. He also seems to have a liking of metaphors and rhetorical questions, which he uses to keep the structure going and better influence those reading. 10. In the last paragraph, Emerson talks of being misunderstood and why is it not such a bad thing. During this, he talks of how many people have been misunderstood and despite this still go down in history as being great. It is his way of saying that it is better to say what is on your mind, be misunderstood, then move on until that person understands than to simply stay

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I’m gonna do all this stuff because I’m supposed to be alone.” Yet again Emerson has the same idea but he goes about being lonely differently. “I am not solitary while I read and write, but if a man would be alone, let him look at the stars.” They both favor the idea of freedom in nature but know that when being alone, you can become

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Emerson also wrote about change. He believed that if one wanted to change they could, all they had to do was change their thoughts, attitude, and perspective. Emerson wrote, “If we live truly, we

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In the novel Ethan Frome, written by Edith Wharton, Ethan, the main protagonist, encounters numerous challenges relating to his love life, social life, and personal life. Ethan’s actions could be analyzed through his decision-making process and used to display him as a self-reliant man. Self-reliance can be defined using criteria laid out by Ralph Waldo Emerson, an American transcendentalist philosopher, in his essay, “Self-Reliance”. Emerson writes about a checklist containing four primary attributes of a self-reliant person. The first necessary characteristic of a self-reliant person is the ability to exclusively fight for causes which s/he believes in.

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How does the maxim "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrety of you own mind" by Emerson relate to The Night Thoreau Spent in Jail? First of all, this quote is says that nothing can help you but your mind. If you have the knowledge than you shouldn't be afraid to speak out and follow your own path instead of conforming to what society thinks and believes. Only you can have the strength to reach your full potential and doing what you believe is right. This quote reminds me of Thoreau, of how he never conformed to what society believes.

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The quote “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, can be lived by many people in the world. For example Albert Einstein, Martin Luther King Jr. and Haley Schmutz all live by this quote. Albert Einstein lived by the quote “ To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment” by Ralph Waldo Emerson because was a different thinker. Einstein was a different kind of thinker than others because thinking outside the box was one of him many differences than others.(Anderson 23).

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Throughout the piece, Emerson uses extensive metaphors, making comparisons to things that are important to the audience, which increases their understanding and engages them. To open the third paragraph, Emerson makes this comparison: “Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that

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Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were writers and transcendentalist principal figures. They believed people should focus on their individual judgment rather than social traditions. Emerson was a philosopher and he thought people should discover and believe on their own “definition of freedom” (Foner330). This was a process of one realizing their own definition of freedom and to incorporate it to their lives. Thoreau believed Americans were consuming their lives with building up wealth caused by the market revolution.

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Emerson ends off this essay with a strong quote that leaves you to think even after the essay is read and analyzed. He writes “To be great, is

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Emerson repeats “Trust thyself” throughout the selection. This motto ties the first section of the essay together. To rely on someone else’s opinion or judgment is cowardly, but someone who is self-reliant exhibits originality and is child-like – free from selfish needs – yet mature. Emerson also said it is important for an individual to resist the pressure to conform to societal norms, which conspire to defeat self-reliance in its people. “Whoso would be a man, must be a nonconformist . . .

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The theme of the essay “Self Reliance” written by Emerson is for beings to not focus on those of others or subside his/her values to fit in with our society, for true geniuses comes from within and are made with their own heart and mind. His idea of self-reliance differs from that of the norm in that he doesn’t encourage those to mix into selfish ways but to be open and proud of their own individuality for that is the true key to life itself. Emerson’s idea is similar to the common use in that he encourages those to not depend on others to define his/her identity. 2. Emerson’s use of figurative language encourages his readers to view his ideas in a clearer and more emphasized perspective.

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In his own words, “It seems to be a rule of wisdom never rely on your memory along, …, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day” (7). Emerson urges us not to evaluate based solely on our memory. We need to have multiple, different views on any single thing. He admits that situations can change, so we should reconsider our decisions even if new decision contradicts what we knew. The “thousand-eyed present” uses imagery and personification, both to suggests that each person has his own view and to demonstrate that, every time we reexamine the same thing, we learn something new.

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In the piece “Self Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of Americas most influential thinkers, Emerson talks about the subject of individuality. Using many different rhetorical strategies, he makes his perspective on the subject loud and clear by using personification, alliteration and analogy. “The eye was placed where one ray shall fall, that it might testify ray shall fall, that it might testify of that particular ray. Bravely let him speak the utmost syllable of his confession” (Emerson). Emerson uses personification, giving “the eye” the ability to talk and confess such as a human would.

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One of the most interesting and intellectual quotes mentioned in Emerson’s essay is “Society everywhere is in conspiracy” which means that copying or repeating others’ ideas or actions is like killing yourself. This quote is controversial in its nature because society has pros and cons, depending

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Ralph Waldo Emerson wanted people to use appreciation of individualism and nature to have a larger knowledge of oneself. In the essay, Emerson uses many literary techniques to show his loving attitude for nature. Emerson’s use of figurative language is used to attempt to get the reader to consider nature with more than just the normal appreciation. "The sun illuminates only the eye of the man, but shines into the eye and the heart of a child.", this sentence utilizes a hyperbole to express that adults see nature as just nature, while children can see nature as what it is but also a lot more. Emerson also attempts to show that throughout a person's’ life you begin to stop appreciating the things you did when you were younger.

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When reading the first few pages Emerson states “I am not solitary whilst I read and write, though nobody is with me” (Emerson 182). What he is trying to say here is that a person who is alone in the wilderness is never truly alone, because we have nature surrounding us. This is one way that Emerson is trying to tell us that as a society we need to live simple lives while living in harmony with nature. He is telling us to go outside instead of living our lives

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