How Does Emerson's Self-Reliance Relate To Transcendentalism

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“Be what you want to be, not what others want to see.” This is saying to not conform to others’ expectations of what you should be but to just be yourself and do what makes you happy. This is a good example of one of the main concepts of the transcendentalist lifestyle. One writer in particular incorporated some similar types of beliefs into his writing. In Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance he believes that our purpose in life is to find our God-given role and fulfill it without conforming to what others may think. In Emerson’s work he explains exactly why he believes what he does and I believe he does it in an effective manner while allowing the reader to connect it with his/her own value of life. In summary, Emerson’s Self-Reliance explains …show more content…

He uses three main ideas to support this belief. The first main idea is that he believes everyone has a God-given role in life to fulfill and if you deny that role you will never achieve complete satisfaction and happiness. “No kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till” (369).He also goes as far to say that anything you work towards other than that role God gave you, it will never bring you peace. A quote from the work better explains this idea, “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best; but what he has said or done otherwise, shall give him no peace” (369). The next main point Emerson highlighted is that we should trust in our true selves and not conform to someone else’s image of us. To trust in yourself means to not deny who you really are like men have been doing forever. He says, “Accept the place the divine providence has found for you” (369). This eludes on Emerson’s belief that we should accept the person we are destined to be, not denying all the traits that come with it. He also believes that we should not conform to what others think we should be, but we should instead be our own person. We should live our own

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