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What Is Emerson's Argument To Individuals Who Lack Self Identity?

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Ralph Waldo Emerson was a well-known American writer of the nineteenth century. In his writing, Emerson speaks on behalf of cultural pressures and how this detrimentally impacts individuals in society. In Emerson’s essay Self-Reliance, he uses metaphors to reach out to individuals who lack self-identity. At the time, Emerson’s writing was notorious for being rebellious because his content was original and abstract. Through his writing style he had the ability to influence others to live life differently than society’s traditional customs. Emerson provides lessons on the importance of being authentic to one’s true persona (Rosenblum 1). Emerson conveys this message in order to remove the fears individuals may have when obtaining self-actualization. …show more content…

This “force” that Emerson speaks of can be physically draining for an individual (Emerson 36). This internal force can stem from frustration because individuals choose to avoid their true integrity due to outside pressures. The idea of having “no worth” can represent a lack of confidence found within an individual (Emerson 36). Therefore, since individuals lack confidence this in terms causes them to conform to society's means. This concept relates to Emerson’s statement “society is a wave” which represents another pessimistic metaphor (Emerson 49). In this quotation, Emerson wants to point out how society, like a wave continues to move forward. Unfortunately, as society progresses some citizens remain stagnant in fear of being different. Emerson metaphorically depicts that individuals cannot truly prosper and move forward until they release the negativity, which is preventing them from reaching progression. Emerson metaphorically shows sympathy by comparing individuals within a society to a leaf-bud that obtains no true sense of its capabilities. In order to provide assistance for these individuals who are having trouble accepting their own character Emerson provides …show more content…

Emerson states an encouraging optimistic metaphor, “Yes, but I cannot sell my liberty and my power, to save their sensibility… then they will justify me” (Emerson 42). Emerson is metaphorically saying that individuals cannot allow a society to tell them what is right and wrong. There are individuals that give up their freedom to think and act differently in order to fit in. Rather Emerson is stating that individuals should be set free and openly express themselves for who they are. Once individuals learn how to live within their own skin others will learn to accept them. Emerson supports this metaphor by elaborating on a leader figure by the name of Socrates, who was honored for his bravery. Socrates’ had a bold personality and enjoyed questioning life (Emerson 44). This same mentality is what gained him enemies during his lifetime. Despite this tribulation Socrates remained true to his passion and did not give in to his surroundings (Satris 1). As stated in the Last Name 6 previous quotation “Then they will justify me” (Emerson 42). This was found to be true for Socrates, after years of critique and judgment he is now known as an intellectual leader.

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Emerson believed that one can’t be themselves if they did conform, as conforming was almost like copying another person’s image in Emerson’s eyes. In this essay, he states that it’s important to believe in your own ideas in order to be a genius. “To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,- that is genius” (Emerson, 19) Nonconformity continues to be a very common theme, as Emerson relates nonconformity to infants. “Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that the babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it” (Emerson,

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He also describes society and how the problems that occurred decades ago still occur now. He says it best in this quote from “Self-Reliance”, “Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not.” (Emerson). This quote describes how societies thoughts and emotions have stayed the same although many years have passed.

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In the texts “Declaration of Independence”, “Civil Disobedience”, and “Self Reliance”, the authors show that individuals shape the society, just as the society shapes the individuals. Individuals often stray away from society’s norms. In “Self Reliance”, Emerson writes about the primacy of the individual, and the importance of the individual, disregarding the expectations of society. He states, “What I must do is all that concerns

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In the Piece “Self-reliance” written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most influential writers in America, speaking to the individual about being true to who people are, and not who society expects people to be. He explores the concept that greatness is achieved by rising above the average person; making one’s thoughts extraordinary, instead of just ordinary. He uses strategies such as metaphors, personification, syntax, and more, to shine a light on his purposeful perspective. Emerson applies divine figurative language to express the importance of being who people are when he remarks, “Always the soul hears an admonition in such lines […]” (1) Here he is depicting the image that people are supposed to listen to their hearts and souls, because that is their direction. Warning and counsel comes from within, and listening to that voice is what distinguishes an ordinary person, from an extraordinary one, taking that leap from society, and into the life of the individual, where people listen to

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As a grownup and an adult for that matter, one cannot be like others one has learned from. One should not make efforts to live like ones’ parents, teachers or elders in our society. One must strive to be one ’s own true self. Emerson is convincing that nonconformity is genius.

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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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In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self Reliance, he passionately expresses his views on individualism. Emerson’s views on individuality are views of following oneself’s own thoughts and passions, rather than fearing men and following the world. The speaker is successful in getting his point across with the use of allusions, anaphora, and thought triggering metaphors. As discussed previously, Emerson employs strong allusions of well known people to get his claim across, which is how important individuality is.

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The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 2 created by Francis Lawrence is the final film in the Hunger Games trilogy and wraps it all up nicely. The film continues the story from its predecessor, The Hunger Games Mockingjay Part 1, and picks up right from where we left off after our main character Katniss was choked by the capital-corrupted Peeta. The director consistently shows that only the creator of the war benefits with the creator of the war in the film being the main antagonist Coriolanus Snow. One scene where this is especially prominent is the “Turn your weapons to Snow” scene where Katniss is being held at gunpoint by refugee, Pugnax. This scene uses a mixture of dialogue, facial expressions, camerawork, and mise en scene to help portray

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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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Emerson informs the reader that “envy is ignorance” and “imitation is suicide” (Emerson 2). He is convincing the audience just how important and serious it is to be your own individual person, without the impact of society and its dreadful ways. Additionally, a metaphor Emerson uses is “every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson 3). It

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In Emerson's views, people should “not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail”(citation). Based on Emerson’s thoughts, people should not follow the crowd, but instead live their lives and leave their mark on the Earth. Emerson thoughts come from a philosophical movement of the nineteenth century called transcendentalism. Transcendentalism focuses on religious renewal, literary innovation, and social transformation (encyclopedia.com). Because of their belief that God exists in everyone and nature, and that knowledge comes from individual intuition, led to the highlight of individualism, self-reliance, and breaking free from traditions(citation).

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Emerson emphasizes, “what I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think... It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion... but the great man is he who

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The transcendentalism time period is described as a time that stressed equality, social responsibility, and the power of the individual. Although this time period had many influential authors, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau were two of the most influential writers of this era. Throughout both Self Reliance, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Civil Disobedience, written by Henry David Thoreau, the lesson of non-conformity to society and the idea that it is each person’s social responsibility to stand up for themselves is discussed. One of Emerson’s main goal of Self Reliance was wanting to explain an important idea of individuality and that humans should not conform to the societal views that were being forced upon them and that

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