A Close Reading Analysis of Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson Self Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson convey the idea that individuals have become too dependance on society and have no mean of supporting themselves without society help. Within a society, a person has become too used to looking toward others for opinions instead of forming their own. Society has caused conformity among people, instead of bolstering individualism and this in-turn has cease the development of new ideas. They have become too scared to speak their mind, in the case that they appear ignorance and then become the scorn of society. People have lost their innate instinct and must now operate relies on others to move forward in lives. Society has caused more damage
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Emerson, however, does not seem to believe in this notion. Emerson compares society to a wave--”The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed, does not” (Emerson 285), meaning that a person will eventually die but society will continue to exist even after a person’s death. If an individual relies on others for opinion and help, that individual may wake up one day and become hopeless because the people he/she relies upon are gone. In order not to become hopeless, it is essential that a person becomes independent from society. The person must do his or her own work and support himself/herself without society’s help. “The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet” (Emerson 284) and “he has a fine Geneva watch, but he has lost the skill to tell the hour by the sun”(Emerson 284). The civilized man has become too depended on society for comfort and knowledge that he has no ability to operates by himself. He relies on the invention of others to survive and has lost his own genius. He would becomes like a little pup, who has no mean of supporting itself, if society is one day taken from him. It is necessary then that “the soldier should receive his supply of corn, grind it in his hand-mill, and bake his bread himself” (Emerson 285). In another word, do your own work yourself and stop relying on others for help because doing so leave you incapable of achieving anything
Emerson, however, does not seem to believe in this notion. Emerson compares society to a wave--”The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed, does not” (Emerson 285), meaning that a person will eventually die but society will continue to exist even after a person’s death. If an individual relies on others for opinion and help, that individual may wake up one day and become hopeless because the people he/she relies upon are gone. In order not to become hopeless, it is essential that a person becomes independent from society. The person must do his or her own work and support himself/herself without society’s help. “The civilized man has built a coach, but has lost the use of his feet” (Emerson 284) and “he has a fine Geneva watch, but he has lost the skill to tell the hour by the sun”(Emerson 284). The civilized man has become too depended on society for comfort and knowledge that he has no ability to operates by himself. He relies on the invention of others to survive and has lost his own genius. He would becomes like a little pup, who has no mean of supporting itself, if society is one day taken from him. It is necessary then that “the soldier should receive his supply of corn, grind it in his hand-mill, and bake his bread himself” (Emerson 285). In another word, do your own work yourself and stop relying on others for help because doing so leave you incapable of achieving anything