Ralph Waldo Emerson

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Recommended: Essay for self acceptance importance

Emerson, one of the greatest American essayists, poet, and thinkers, clearly understood the importance of self-acceptance. He believed in searching for truth from within our self. Emerson had experienced both the benefits and drawbacks of going against mainstream culture and society. The same message applies even in modern times. We are constantly bombarded by ideas that try to make us something else. We are told how to be, who we should be like, how to live, what our beliefs ought to be and what we should wear and the list goes on. We strive to fit in; we mold ourselves so that we can be like everyone else. If we deny who we are we can never find true happiness, we need to stop thinking about pleasing other people.

The relationship between society and a person really depends on that particular person. I feel Emerson believes in not conforming to society. The things you do everyday, the passion you feel in your heart, your virtues, these are all characteristics that you should not alter. Society labels all people, whether rich man or poor man, we are all equal inside. “Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members.“ In other words, in order to be a part of something, particularly in this case the society, man has lost his individual identity. Thus, concludes Emerson, man is dependent on others for his own identity.

Emerson obviously believes that man should not settle for becoming what society has already prescribed for him. It is apparent that he feels that too often we are smothered by what other people believe and think and lose sight of the fact that we all have minds of our own and we should not fear independence. By letting yourself conform to what society believes or by living yo...

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...s life was to teach us for not making compromises just in order to fit in. We as human are capable of making decisions for ourselves and whether that decision is good or bad that decision is still ours and we should be able to take responsibility of our decisions. We are constantly bombarded by ideas that try to make us something else, we need to take action against it and follow our heart.

Work Cited

"EMERSON - NATURE--Web Text." EMERSON - NATURE--Web Text. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance." Self-Reliance. N.p., 1841. Web. 23 Mar. 2014.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Ralph Waldo Emerson." Ralph Waldo Emerson. N.p., 1803. Web. 24 Mar. 2014.

Ward, Julius H. (1887). The Andover Review. Houghton Mifflin.

Ralph Waldo Emerson, Nature, http://www.rwe.org/?option=com_content&task=view&id=20&Itemid=42, Accessed 24 March 2014.

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