Essay

Individuality is desired by humans around the world. What is individuality' I believe it is a combination of qualities that tells one person from another. Wanting to be different from each other is a part of the human society, but what is also a part of this society is the desire of being accepted by the society. Therefore, humans are always looking for a way to fulfill both needs. Waldo Emerson was born on May 25, 1803 in Boston, Massachusetts. Early in his early stages of life, emerson followed the path of his father and became minister. He stopped ministering in 1832 due to he felt that he no longer had good conscious. He experienced doubts about the doctrine and the Christian church. This was temporarily shown by his brief association with Unitarianism, but soon Emerson became discontent with their belief of Christianity. After a while, however, he referred to a lot of writers work to shape his own thoughts. Another reason that referred him to shape his own thought and self- discovery was his wife passing. Emerson was considered the father of the American Literary Renaissance, wrote many essays to really change the society values surrounding him. Emerson's ideas make sense in many situations where the influence of society drowns out the voices of individuals. Emerson conveys his idea that every individual has their own genius speaking universal truths. However this seems to be hard to achieve with society showing conformity, traditions, and institutions on society. Emerson valued individuality very much. He believed that thinking for yourself and trusting your original ideas, help reach a universal truth that will ultimately benefit society around you as a whole. Emerson argued that the individual should trust himself, even if it goes against someone else opinion. Being self-reliant, you are responsible for questioning the society and the world around you. Emerson thought that people were giving up their thoughts and ideas that made them unique in order to satisfy the increasingly controlling people in their lives. This was leading to a lack of confidence in their thoughts. People was simply believing the idea that they didn’t know what was best for them. An individualist looks at the evidence that has been presented to them and then they decide whether it’s true rather than allow an institution to make that decision for everyone. I believe that the point that emerson was trying to make was that just because the people in this society that are in authority such as, ministers, teachers, or politicians think or feel a certain way is not enough to make it true. Emerson believed that each person had something to offer and at the very least, the ability to think for themselves. “What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think. This rule, equally arduous in actual and in intellectual life, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and meanness. It is the harder, because you will always find those who think they know what your duty is better than you know it. 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”. (263) Emerson also thought it was important for an individual to stand on his or her own feet. Whether a person owned their own business, or simply worked for someone else, he or she needs to be able to supply themselves and family and learn how to survive in life. No human being should depend on the society to provide shelter or food unless that person has earned it with his or her own hands. Emerson's transcendentalism is essentially a romantic individualism, a philosophy of life for new people who had overthrown their colonial governors and set about conquering a new continent in hopes of establishing new and different views. Individualism is an important theme of the transcendental movement. Emerson provided a summary of the ideas that transcendentalism centered around. Emerson, as the most significant passage in “Self-Reliance” makes clear: “And now at last the highest truth on this subject remains unsaid; probably cannot be said; for all that we say is the far-off remembering of the intuition. The thought by what I can now nearest approach to say it, is this. When good is near you, when you have life in yourself, it is not by any known or accustomed way; you shall not discern the footprints of any other; you shall not see the face of man; you shall not hear any name; the way, the thought, the good, shall be wholly strange and new.It shall exclude example and experience. You shall take the way from man, not to man”.(523) Emerson believed that man is innately good, and that if he were left to his own devices without the society and laws boxing him in, he would create a society that is very different from the one that he lived in. Emerson's ideas made sense in many different types of situations where the influence of society drowned the voices of individuals. An individual needs to demonstrate their original thoughts, develop their own moral values, and display their independence in order to achieve their fulfillment and their inner growth. I believe that emerson agreed that in the transition from childhood to adulthood, individuals lost their individuality which negatively affected their life. They reclaimed individualism by avoiding the society conformity and living their own experiences which was critical to personal growth. Yet, Emerson presented contrasting thoughts on how this individualism may be achieved. Emerson agreed that in the transition from childhood to adulthood, man restricts original thoughts and actions so that he may be accepted by others, which impeded his individual growth. Emerson emphasizes that children do what they want and freely speaks what’s on their mind without thinking of the consequences. Emerson admires their actions because they express original thought which is not influenced by anybody but themselves. This is critical to a person’s development as a unique individual. As people mature into their adulthood, they begin to take into account other people opinions on how they should think and act in society so that they may gain the approval of their peers. They basically want to fit in. They lost their voice and their way of defining them as being unique. Emerson believed that successful people are those whom like children, are rich in their own individual thought and who is not afraid of being themselves. Sometimes emerson applied his ideas to religion, stating that men should find their own creed, not conform to another one that has been made for them. Plato also had a similar view on individuality. In the allegory of the cave platos view was on individuality was similar to what emerson was saying. In the allegory of the cave was about individuals who were chained. They couldn’t see what was above their head or behind them because their necks were chained. They couldn’t move around because their feet were chained. All they could do was look at shadows on the way. Based off this story I believe plato was saying that you can’t just go by what people tell you. You have to go out in the world and see it for yourself and create your own thought. He also stated that you would live a better life if you be your own person instead of trying to follow in someone else footsteps. “You must contrive for your future rulers another and a better life than that of a ruler, and then you may have a well ordered state; for only in the state which offers this, will they rule who are truly rich, not in silver and gold, but in virtue and wisdom, which are the true blessings of life”. (457) Works Cited Joswick, Thomas. The Conversion Drama of “Self Reliance.” American Literature pg.523 Jstor.com: American Literature. Web. 4 Dec. 1983 Jacobus, Lee. World of Ideas. New York: 2010 Print pg 263. Jacobus, Lee. World of Ideas. New York: 2010 pg. 457.