Self-Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance was published in 1841. We all know that America achieved its independence in 1776. This essay was published a few decades after independence and it contains many valuable matters. The main message of the essay is that instead of blindly following the social norms and customs, one should look into his or her inner-self and accept things by judging them. In this regard, non-conformity to social rules is a very important matter. One should never follow things blindly. He should think and then accept. 

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In fact, there was a crisis in Emerson’s life. A few days before publishing this essay, he changed his job and he was in a conflict with Harvard University. His thoughts were very much advanced compared to his age. He always liked to explore new possibilities. This resulted in a frequent conflict between him and other intellectuals. Such conflict was more common in his professional life. Through this essay, Emerson is trying to console himself and improve his self-confidence at the same time. In this essay, he was trying to say that his path was the ideal path. He wanted to say it because he believed in it.

At the same time, we should remember another thing. Though Americans gained freedom, American society and culture were highly influenced by the British. Many people used to think that everything about Britain was good and they should follow the British in the fields of education and culture. Not only British, Americans thought very highly of Europe and in his essay, Emerson told the readers to change their minds. He believed that Americans should build their country in their own way and create their own culture and literature. Hence, “Self-Reliance” has great significance in American literature.

In one way, he tried to infuse new thoughts in American literature. On the other hand, he tried to tell the future writers to look into their own thoughts and ideas instead of following European authors. If they follow European authors, they will create poor quality literature.

Emerson believed that without non-conformity human soul cannot flourish. If human beings blindly follow society, society will not change, and the world will become stagnant. This is not good for the growth of human civilization. Human civilization thrived by new inventions and discoveries. Hence, Emerson believed that people should value non-conformity.

In this essay, Emerson provided a very interesting example. He said that Shakespeare did not study with any teacher but one would not create literary works better than Shakespeare by reading all his works. In order to become Shakespeare, one should first look into his inner-self and give priority to his or her thoughts and ideas. Non-conformists look for truth by going against social norms and customs.

Emerson provided another example. A person who studied in the best universities in the USA but failed to secure any job is considered a failure to society. On the contrary, a poorly literate person by dint of his hard work and determination became successful and found a town will be respected by the society. What Emerson tried to say that a non-conformist, who works hard tries to create something new in society, may not be appreciated initially but would gain respect in the future. Human history is filled with such examples.

We should not forget that social norms and customs change after a few days. What is good today would not remain good forever. When Emerson wrote this essay, slavery was common in the USA, but it was banned after twenty-five years. In the present-day USA, none could think of keeping slaves. Hence we should not follow all the social norms and customs blindly. It is not a bad thing to become a non-conformist.

Reading this essay, one should not think that non-conformist means anti-religion. However, it is not true. In this essay, Emerson gave a new explanation of religion. He believes that God has given a lot of power to humans and gave them freedom. One should use his power to do better things. In this regard, Emerson’s essay is about non-conformist but not anti-religious. Moreover, Emerson did not try to become an atheist. He talked about the power of the human soul, which all the religion provides. It will be a mistake if we compare Emerson’s non-conformity with anarchism or destructiveness. He tried to show the positive side of non-conformity. Instead of blindly following social norms and customs, one should look for truth by searching into his soul. This idea may not seem very new in this age, but it was a very radical idea at that time. Currently, we see that America is trying hard to provide more personal freedom to its citizens. It means, by remaining within the limits of the law, people can do anything. There was a time in our country when the son of a farmer would become a farmer, but things are not the same anymore. If people had observed such customs till today, many students who are now studying in several private universities would not have studied.