Ralph Waldo Emerson's Quote Analysis

Improved Essays
Prompt 3

Author Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote a famous quote by him, he said “To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” This quote relates to individuality and being to yourself meaning like should conquer own goal and lead to your own life. Don’t ever let anyone control your life, or tell you how live it. Do you agree or disagree with this statement Emerson wrote? Audiences who are reading this should ask themselves this question to understand this quote, go through all the accomplishments that they done by themselfs to see how individuality could be, and even see if they living their life the way they want, or not be forcing to live.

I should be the one asking

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    Self-reliance is more than the picture of a family cutting out an existence on the wilderness. In spite of the fact that he appreciated the do-it-without anyone's help attitude and delighted in nature, Emerson's limits, the spot of genuine flexibility and opportunity, was a mental scene free from average quality and similarity. Independence is his clarification both deliberate and energetic of what he implied by this and of why he was moved to make it his catchphrase. Each individual has a one of a kind skill that must be uncovered when that individual has the strength to trust his or her own particular reflections and attitudes against all open dissatisfaction. By traditions of his time, Emerson utilizes the expressions "men" and "humankind"…

    • 246 Words
    • 1 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    A man named Dr. John Emerson, a white male, decided to purchase a slave named Dred Scott in the year 1833. Because Emerson was a involved with the army for imployement reasons, he and Scott lived in a military base in Wisconsin. Their move to Wisconsin was controversial however because Wisconsin was no longer a slave state due to the Missouri Compromise. The Missouri Compromise was a deal the United States made with Missouri, resulting in the creation of a new amendment, in which Missouri was introduced into the country as a slave state. Because of Missouri's decision to enter as a slave state, it offset the balance the union had where there was an equal number of slave states as there were free states so in order to fix this, the United States made Maine a slavery free state.…

    • 461 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Fahrenheit 451 shows a futuristic society where nonconformists are persecuted. Unlike the teaching of Emerson being different is not acceptable. People are unsocial and live lives which revolve around the television. Intellectuals are hunted down and killed. Citizens are unable to think for themselves.…

    • 1041 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Well known essayist, lecturer and poet, Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his text, “Self Reliance”, asserts that each individual should avoid conformity and follow his/her own ideologies to achieve a more enriched life. Emerson’s purpose is to impress upon the reader the idea that they should not conform their lives to the ideology of society; rather they should pursue their own individual paths consisting of their own actions and ideas. He utilizes an encouraging tone to express to the readers that it is possible to be ones own man, non-conformed by societal standards. Individuals must learn to accept the lives they are given rather than attempt to mimic the lives of others or else their lives will have no meaning. Emerson commences the except by stating “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the…

    • 619 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Individualism is a commonly sought after truth in this world. For it is when this sense of individuality is obtained that one becomes empowered. Greater concepts that could be drawn from this is that acting with such originality could give you the opportunity to have extensive views, learn new things and make a difference. In To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee, Atticus Finch is a lawyer who took on a very important case.…

    • 785 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In Emerson’s essay “Nature”, Emerson looks beyond the simple visuals of the woods and explores how his connection with Nature grants him enhanced perception of his existence, and how he himself is encompassed and uplifted by the existence that is Nature. Emerson While remembering his transcendental walk through the forest, Emerson writes, “There I feel that nothing can befall me in life, — no disgrace, no calamity, (leaving me my eyes,) which Nature cannot repair. ”(Emerson’s “Nature”) Emerson feels invincible in this moment due to his current independence from society bequeathed upon him by Nature.…

    • 320 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Emerson believes that an individual must stand for his or her own thoughts and actions and not conform to society’s influences. A self-reliant individual is more capable of becoming a stronger person because of their willingness to speak their own mind. Emerson portrays this message when he writes, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowd keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude (23).” The imagery or example Emerson implies of the self-reliant man in the crowd raises the conflict of individualism and conformity. Due to this struggle, Emerson thinks that a strong individual is a person who is willing to face…

    • 1447 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    I agree with Emerson's statement. Being yourself in a society where others try to copy is a huge breakthrough. Not everyone can be bold or self confident enough to step out as their true selves. Emerson is stating that people should break the status quo of following others, not trail behind everyone else.…

    • 559 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “Without a notion of the transcendental, human beings would, indeed, be animals; however, only fools can be convinced of it, and only degenerates need such a conviction”. This quote by Franz Grillparzer, a well-known composer, shows his view on the topic of transcendentalism. As a rather extreme liberal, his views favor civil liberties and the topic of individualism is one that is highly thought of in the liberal community. Before a discussion on individualism, one must know what it is. There are a number of acceptable definitions, these all include a basic need to separate oneself from society to find oneself, either figuratively or literally.…

    • 1160 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Individuality is a very general idea about a certain lifestyle. While it can be perceived in many different ways, both Ralph Waldo Emerson and Washington Irving accurately describe it through different viewpoints in their works, titled “Self Reliance,” and “Rip Van Winkle,” respectively. This concept applies to all human lives, as everyone has internal debates on whether they are on the side of blending into society, and therefore not contributing to it, or pulling themselves out of society too much. While many people try to find different compromises between being an individual and being part of society, both of these works demonstrate the values and importance of both pulling yourself out of organized society and including yourself in groups…

    • 800 Words
    • 4 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
  • Improved Essays

    Keating. Nonconformity is first demonstrated when Mr. Keating makes three of his students walk in a circle until their steps become synchronized. He then stops them to warn the class about the dangers of conformity: “Now we all have a great need for acceptance, but you must trust that your beliefs are unique, your own, even though others may think them odd or unpopular, even though the herd may go, that’s bad.” This quotation relates to the famous transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson when he writes in his essay “from Self-Reliance”, “It is easy in the world to live after the world’s opinion; it is easy in solitude to live after our own; but the great man is he who in the midst of the crowds keeps with perfect sweetness the independence of solitude” (593). In this quotation, Emerson describes the best type of person as one who can maintain “the independence of solitude” such as his or her own ideas even when society says otherwise, much like what Mr. Keating is explaining to his students.…

    • 1227 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Speaker: • It is clear that Emerson is telling the story because he is talking in first person and giving the reader life advice. • A male Ralph Waldo Emerson writes about how he is ashamed of his society and how easily people surrender to people of the higher class or power. • One can assume the speaker’s point of view is that everyone should follow his or her own instincts and not conform to society because he states, “I hope in these days we have heard the last of conformity and consistency” (Emerson 5). Occasion: • Emerson wrote Self-Reliance because he wanted people to cherish his or her worth and ideas instead of conforming to how others think. • Self-Reliance is part of a series of essays from 1841.…

    • 1506 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Ralph Waldo Emerson was a key member in the American transcendentalism movement. Transcendentalism, in short, was a movement that consisted of three tenets, which included celebrating the individual, using nature as a mirror of human lives, and trusting your intuition. People like Henry David Thoreau, Margaret Fuller, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and many others participated in this movement. Transcendentalists believed in spirituality over materials and thought that people should attempt to simplify their lives by revolving themselves with nature. They believed in individualism and were against the standards that society has set for all humans because they didn’t feel they had to abide by said norm.…

    • 1643 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The American Scholar” which was originally named “An oration delivered before the Phi Beta Kappa society, at Cambridge, August 31, 1837” was delivered by Ralph Waldo Emerson as a speech to Harvard’s Phi Beta Kappa society. Later that year, the speech was published under it’s primary title and then republished in 1838. After a couple of years, in 1841, he embodies this essay in his book of essays under it’s new title “The American Scholar”, aiming to extend his audience. Emerson Introduces his text with the aim of exploring the overall relationship between the scholar and the human being. In addition, he emphasizes the fact that the scholar stems from “man thinking”.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays