Character Analysis: Ralph Waldo Emerson

Decent Essays
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you is the greatest accomplishment.” This statement couldn’t be more true. Being yourself won’t always be the easiest thing to do. There may be times when you break down. But, that doesn’t make you weak, it means you’ve been strong too long. Not all people are able to be themselves. They put on a front and act how society expects them to. Society shouldn’t be the ones to determine who you are… you should. There is nothing wrong with being different. It doesn’t make you crazy to not want to fit in with society. Dr. Seuss said, “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?” Everyone was born to be different. Yet, not everyone follows through because

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    One point in Malcolm Gladwell’s book that stood out to me was when he talked about the artist in Paris in 1860 and how they didn’t conform, which I think you shouldn’t. He quoted historian Sue Roe when she wrote, “works were expected to be microscopically accurate, properly ‘finished’ and formally framed, with proper perspective and all the familiar artistic conventions (pg. 66),” but the artists he wrote about didn’t follow those rules. His book is about underdogs but, when he wrote about the artists and how they were painting different than what was liked back then, I thought it was more about how the underdogs of the time didn’t conform to society. He wrote, “the Impressionists had an entirely different idea about what constituted art.…

    • 427 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the play American Century by Murphy Guyer, we find a woman waiting on her husband Tom to return from war. Upon his return while they’re reuniting, they are interrupted by a stranger, Tommy, who claims to be their son. Although at first Tom doesn’t believe him and thinks it’s a scam, the woman name Margaret knew the entire time because of motherly instincts. He goes on to tell them about the future and how he got back by taking drugs because he is a schizophrenic. He then continues to describe how the other children had turned out.…

    • 1580 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the book Exeter, written by, unknown authors, there are three main parts that are displayed there are many themes and messages displayed. Seafarer, The Wanderer and Wife’s Lament. Each of these three parts have their own message inside of them. The first, Seafarer says, it’s okay to be away from society, the second, The Wanderer, says that, it’s okay to be alone, ands lastly Wife’s Lament says, it’s okay to move on. First of all…

    • 568 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The Beautiful Struggle is about the personal experience of Ta-Nehisi Coates and his brother Bill growing up in West Baltimore. The book takes place in 1980s Baltimore during the Crack Epidemic and explores issues of survival, morals and family. The book is a coming of age story that looks at multiple perspectives. Ta-Nehisi is a boy who isn’t cool, doesn’t understand the rules of the street, and generally doesn’t apply himself in school. His brother Bill on the other hand, is known for being cool, charismatic, and street smart.…

    • 1316 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    We just need the time and patience to discover our self-identity. We need to recall the boldness of youth and conquer the resistance against ourselves. To be brave enough to stray away form the norm is to be misunderstood by the bell curve of society. The vast majority may find it strange and distasteful but it is only because the vast majority is too timid to tear away from the support. One may feel apprehensive and uncomfortable to move along an unconventional path, just like how Waldo must not certainly feel most at ease in a sweater at the beach.…

    • 691 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As the crowd makes its way from the party down to the beach, Edna wonders why Robert has distanced himself from her. He no longer accompanies her constantly as he did before, although he doubles his devotion upon his return from an entire day spent away from her. It is as though he feels obligated to spend a certain number of hours with Edna. Most of the beach-goers enter the water without a second thought, but Edna is hesitant. Despite the attempts of the other guests to teach her, she is still unable to swim.…

    • 397 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Conformity constricts creativity and therefore adhering to societies molds will leave people at the surface of their potential. Not digging deep within oneself renders a person a mere copy of everything they have absorbed. Being a copy hinders creativity; attempting to become an original while focusing on what others have created as “whats right for you” will never work out. An individuals idea has the power to trump societal expectations, if the individual has faith in themselves. To prove these ideas collective works of Steve Jobs, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Nancy Sommers will be utilized.…

    • 826 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    This world is filled with deception, hatred, and so many abominations. There is a thin line dividing the good of this planet from all of the roots of evil. This has been reflected throughout many novels and literatures in all of human history. One of the most iconic being The Crucible, with its sharp and realistic tone, the novel shifted the reader’s heart into a realistic perspective to how actual peoples emotions are. Though all these characters contained unique emotions that resembled us in a way, which we could bond with them from a familiar style.…

    • 1069 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Many people assume that to fit in you have to be like everyone else. Most people think that you have to dress like each other and talk like each other to be accepted in today's society. People are losing their humanity by conforming an enormous amount , they are trying to become someone they are not. What happens to all the brilliant people that do not want to engage in society because they fear the will get out down or shut out with their different ideas? We as humans need to be aware of how much conformity can change us.…

    • 390 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A sentence that really stood out to me was, " Even as a child she had lived her own small life within herself. At a very early period she had apprehended instinctively the dual life - that outward existence which conforms, the inward life which questions. "(Chapter 7) To me, this shows an entirely new side of Edna, one readers weren't really exposed to before. This paragraph was really well written because it not only gives context (Edna's childhood), but it also exposes a conflict Edna has dealt with her entire life.…

    • 1325 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Essayist, poet, and lecturer, Ralph Waldo Emerson, scrutinizes the educational system of the nineteenth century in his essay “Education”. Emerson’s purpose is to exploit the faults within the methods of teaching that were practiced and persuade educators to shift to the natural method. He adopts an academic, yet passionate tone in order to inspire teachers and parents to make the changes necessary to properly prepare students for the future. Emerson opens his essay by expressing that the key to proper education is respecting the pupil and applying the natural method.…

    • 762 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Decent Essays

    I wanted to deny the fact that I was different, and I wanted to blend in with the kids in school and society itself.…

    • 93 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Decent Essays

    Opinion About Conformity

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Do you know how this world would be with conformity?, a disaster. It's often said that being yourself is good, but yet people ,don’t listen to themselves. They are too scared, they don’t want to become themselves because they don't want people to judge them, they don't want to get picked on. So people now days just follow others; they never become a leader. The…

    • 334 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Decent Essays
  • Superior Essays

    Many studies show what personality traits can affect schizophrenia. John Forbes Nash Jr. showed an interesting personality trait that amplified his schizophrenic disorder. According to Capps (2004), his narcissism not only intensified his schizophrenia, but it helped in his recovery or repression of his schizophrenia. The movie, A Beautiful Mind, attempts to convey the life of Nash in a way that is understandable to all. The movie begins while he is in graduate school at Princeton University and it goes throughout his life, showing his falling in love with his wife, the birth of their first son, and his first admittance into a mental hospital.…

    • 1281 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Being myself is effortless over attempting to mimic others’ behaviors. When I am true to myself, I am not required to stress so much about anyone contradicting or having negative opinions to say when I do not choose the same decisions as them. The pressure to look like everyone around and conform to society decreases as I learn my own self worth. Showing my own character by doing what I trust is correct, dressing the way I am comfortable in and by not letting people's opinion influence my decisions , has permitted me to grow as a person. For example, I participate in activities that I enjoy and take classes that I find accommodating, to allow myself to stay true to myself.…

    • 943 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays