Emerson’s Essay

Emerson choose the title, “On Self-Reliance” because he knows what it’s like to be human and living in the society where people pressure you into not being yourself. Self-reliance means believing in yourself. Within you, you’re the only person who really knows what it’s like to be you. As Emerson does show his main ideas its possible that he lived through each and every one of them. Emerson’s tone in the essay is bold, not caring for what people have to say about his own work. He puts his work out in the world for people to read despite the arguments and the feedback. Emerson put the words in a way that a person would have been scared to read it. Although the text is back in the day, most of the writing is relatable in modern's society. Emerson uses long, complex words to describe modern day situations in which takes time in order to process the text. In the fifth paragraph, it states, "their [children, babes, and brutes] mind being whole, their eye is as yet unconquered, and when we look in their faces, we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it..." This context is understandable yet has a powerful meaning behind it. The person that controls the adults are usually the youth. As babies don't know a way to express themselves or their thoughts, so they start crying. Emerson knows that adults can't do anything about that besides try to understand what they want. As in society nobody can't put you down unless you let yourself. Emerson wrote, "what I must do, is all that concerns me, not what people think." This quote brought me a reminder of my mother because she does what she wants due to the fact that she isn't scared of being judged. She tells me, you be the one to control your fears, not others.