ipl-logo

Rhetorical Devices In Self Reliance

872 Words4 Pages
bulb-icon

Recommended: Ralph waldo emerson theme self reliance

On the occasion of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay, “Self Reliance,” Joy Zhou chooses to positively embrace his writing in a reflective argument. Although the essay seems to present itself in a traditional style, her words resemble a more opinionated approach that is supported by her personal life; she comes across as an inspired individual who agrees with Emerson’s ideology. Zhou tackles her claim by breaking off short quotes from Emerson’s essay directly and supporting his relevance with modern, personal experiences. Her first main paragraph discusses Emerson’s quote, “‘[t]here is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide.’” Responding, Zhou provides an anecdote in which …show more content…

As a side note, it is important to realize that college to the Chinese community is essential; in order to create honor within your family, you must pass a series of intensive testing and attend university. Unfortunately, for Joy Zhou, the odds were stacked against her, and she was unable to meet the passing requirement. She immediately breaks into a series of ethos driven statements saying, “I failed my parents and myself. After that, I lost all confidence in myself.” In such a dark and devastated mindset, pulling together all the strength left in her heart, Zhou embarks on a journey to America with her mind set on opportunity. In terms of qualification, she had no experience in the work field and no degree; she was later rewarded with a position as a cashier in a restaurant. As her career experience unfolds further, Emerson’s quote, “‘[a] man is relieved and gay when he puts his heart into his work and done his best’” in which Zhou uses to justify her own effort and perseverance. Following, the idea of American college is introduced. Unaware of which path to take, Zhou writes that her decision was influenced directly by Emerson’s words in “Self Reliance” as she challenges herself to apply to Berkeley. In the end, the essay is wrapped up with a short statement expressing both her claim and position on “Self Reliance;” Zhou expresses that, “‘Self-Reliance’ is a great article to me, thought it was written

Show More
Related
1012 Words | 5 Pages

Mccandless’ Odyssey of Solitude “To go into solitude, a man needs to retire as much from his chamber as from society” , Emerson on Nature. In the biographical narrative, Into the Wild, by Jon Krakauer, Chris McCandless, an unprepared teenager, walks into Denali, Alaska and never returns. After McCandless’ body is discovered in Fairbanks Bus 142, Jon Krakauer follows McCandless’ footsteps in an attempt to learn what he did and why. Krakauer discerns that McCandless’ ideas and philosophies were closely aligned with the teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. Both Emerson and Thoreau are pioneers of Transcendentalism, the belief that the reality of oneself is discovered through nature.

Read More
1409 Words | 6 Pages

Tan expresses the life experiences of Chinese immigrants to the United States and attempts to depict the relationship of a mother and daughter through her significant piece of writing ‘The Joy Club’. Therefore, all these authors somehow portrayed their early struggles and their view point towards life from their literary

Read More
624 Words | 3 Pages

Exercising your own ideals can be perceived as being rebellious in every society at time. People are expected to act, think, and behave in a way that safeguards everyone’s contentment. Ralph Waldo Emerson has a different view on this matter, in his essay Self-Reliance, he urges every individual to believe in their divine ideal and not to conform to society and its projections. In Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance”, he urges for every human being to rely on their own intelligence and the genius within to make decision for themselves and to be their true selves.

Read More
562 Words | 3 Pages

Many people rely on the opinions of others, never truly stopping to personally consider the subject at hand. Ralph Waldo Emerson, an impactful American writer, wrote a piece entitled Self- Reliance. In Self-Reliance, Emerson’s purpose is to promote ideas of individualistic thinking. Emerson uses strong, rhetorical strategies, such as figurative language, allusions, and complex syntax and parallelism to effectively persuade his audience to trust their own thoughts.

Read More
1271 Words | 6 Pages

The experiences related and recorded in the novels The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan, Monkey Bridge by Lan Cao, and Obasan by Joy Kogawa give great insight to the internal and external struggles East-Asian immigrants face in the Western World, specifically Chinese-Americans, Vietnamese-Americans, and Japanese-Canadians. Although the situations have certainly improved since the mid twentieth century, many of the issues and struggles the characters in the novels face are still real and ever-expanding for over five percent of the U.S. population. To

Read More
827 Words | 4 Pages

Jin is faced with being one of the very few Asians at his Junior High School, while everyone else is American. Of course Jin is going to feel out of sorts, especially when his teacher introduces him to the class as “Jin Jang”, and saying “He and his family moved to our neighborhood all the way from China”, when Jin’s real name is Jin Wang and his family moved from San Francisco (30). Gene Luen Yang uses this humility to display that it takes a considerable amount of open

Read More
874 Words | 4 Pages

Renowned American- writer Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his essay, “Nature” reflects the true beauty of nature, he proposes the idea that we become careless towards nature we lose our sense of wonder. Emerson’s purpose is to express the miracle of reality. He inspires a sense of wonder to convey to his readers that nature is far more beautiful than we think, how unappreciative we become.

Read More
446 Words | 2 Pages

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe once said, “All the knowledge I posses everyone else can acquire, but my heart is all my own”. This quote clearly states the thoughts of a Romantic/Transcendentalist. Emerson, from “Self-Reliance”, and Peter Weir, from the movie, “Dead Poets Society”, are both Romantics/ Transcendentalists. They both believe in people thinking for themselves and their surroundings. Two philosophies that are present in both the story and in the movie, were celebrating the spirit of the individual, and that people are inherently good and should follow their own beliefs.

Read More
306 Words | 2 Pages

Have you ever went to a new school and it may have been in a different area, state, or city and you felt as if you were different. You may was feeling that way because you didn’t know anyone and your a new student. Well that’s how immigrants feel when they move to America from another country but sometimes it may be worse because they’ll have to adjust to different climate changes, traditions, being judged, and etc. In the Joy Luck Club is a book about chinese and American cultural differences in many aspects.

Read More
901 Words | 4 Pages

Ralph Emerson was a principal figure in the Transcendentalist movement of the 1840s, and he was also a well-known essayist and poet. His 1841 essay, Self-Reliance, emphasizes the importance of people finding their identity and being true to themselves. Throughout his essay, Emerson strains the importance of individuals avoiding conformity and following their own thoughts and judgments. He obtains his goal of conveying his message by using many allusions to make his point. Allusions help connect the ideas within a piece of writing to the bigger picture.

Read More
416 Words | 2 Pages

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.

Read More
2187 Words | 9 Pages

In Chinese culture the relationship between a mother and a daughter sets a foundation for the daughters actions and ways they make it through life. In the novel, four mothers tell the stories of major events that have affected them and their daughters, who are all first generation Americans. The mothers each have their own unique experiences with their own mother which is reflected in the way they mother their own daughters. Each story a mother has different values and cultural beliefs that are important to them. In the novel The Joy Luck Club by Amy Tan the quality of each mother-daughter relationship is illustrated by the daughters’ behaviors and beliefs which can be seen in the way they parent their own children, their feelings and action

Read More
1253 Words | 6 Pages

Lack of Self-Reliance Among the Victims of the Pips. In some individuals journey through life, self-reliance, is an important segment that helps form a foundation amongst them. Most struggle with the lack of self-reliance. In the late 1800’s many were faced with hardships, many lacked the importance of self-reliance because life was not actually simple.

Read More
727 Words | 3 Pages

In the James Harvey Robinson story “On Various Kinds of Thinking” and the Ralph Waldo Emerson story “Self Reliance” both of the authors talk about the different ways people process information. Along with this, the two authors address how people pursue knowledge in different ways. For Robinson, he proves that people do not only apply their minds to work ideas out, but also the persuasion of others. On the other hand, Emerson states that we have learned to follow since it is all we have ever known and do not wish to risk stepping out of our comfort zones. Both of these authors write about similar ways of learning, but their ways also differentiate from each other.

Read More
703 Words | 3 Pages

My results from the Self-Reliance Inventory were not surprising. If I would have tried to predict my results, I would have been correct. The inventory revealed that I am counter-dependent, which means that I withdraw from others when I am stressed. I feel that going to others will make me look needy. I have a fear of being over-dependent.

Read More

More about Rhetorical Devices In Self Reliance

Related Topics

Open Document