Self Reliance

Katey Hunter

February 17, 2010

A Man’s Inspiring Outlook

In “Self Reliance” Ralph Waldo Emerson states the rules of life and why they are important. He expressed his beliefs while asking others to question them. Emerson explains that the only way to live a happy life is by trusting and believing in yourself. He is also a firm believer that if you have confidence in yourself others are bound to believe in you. Emerson states that when we trust in ourselves is when we achieve the greatest things. When he says “absolve you to yourself, and you shall have the suffrage of the world” he is stating that if you think you can do something, it’s much easier for others to think you can do it as well. He tells us that we should speak our mind although we may contradict ourselves in the future, and we should never disregard our own thoughts simply because they are our own. We are also told that conforming to the society around us is wrong because if we were all conformists there would be no radical thinkers and society would never advance. He knows that if we always expect ourselves to be consistent we will always be frightened that our past words will challenge our current thoughts. But, he explains that the only way a man is recognized as highly intelligent is when he can look past that and be misunderstood. He states that “to be great is to be misunderstood” because when you first present radical ideas it’s obvious that you will face much opposition, but as time goes on your ideas get more familiar and you are more likely to gain recognition. All in all, Emerson believed that you learn and grow much more from the hard days in your life rather than the ones that go by smoothly.

After reading “Self-Reliance” my outlook on life changed, not because I completely agreed with everything that Emerson said, but because it made me address my own values and rules for myself. Emerson is a very educated man and all of the things he says in this essay have valid points. I agree...