Ralph Waldo Emerson Essay Analysis

Emerson is what a lot of people want to be. He is not afraid of what other people think and his goal is to bring them to that state of mind. “Self-Reliance” by Ralph Waldo Emerson is also about self-realization. The Emerson’s essay analysis focuses on his definition of individualism, his analysis of society, and the way he believes his version of individualism can transform indeed to save the American society.

“Man is his own star; and the soul that can render an honest and perfect man, commands all light, all influence, all fate; nothing to him falls early or too late” (537). Emerson, indeed, clarifies that what one’s does is for himself or herself. This confirms the idea of self-realization that one is responsible to his or her life. Emerson writes “What I must do, is all that concerns me, not what the people think” (541). It is important to be as independent as possible in our

Emerson writes, “If we live truly we shall see truly [and] when a man lives with God, his voice shall be as sweet as murmur of the brook and the rustle of the corn” (546). Individual’s will, in Emerson's philosophy, is not selfish but divine.

In this context, an individual who fails to be self-reliant, who does not attend to and act upon his or her own thoughts and ideas, is out of step with purpose of God. Such a person, in Emerson’s view cannot be productive, fulfilled, or happy.

On the other hand, a person who is self-reliant can be assured that he or she is carrying out the divine purpose of life. This is true even of those who flout the rules and conventions of society and religion and suffer disapproval as a result. In fact, Emerson points out, those men who are now considered the greatest of all fall into this category. He gives as examples Pythagoras, Socrates, Jesus, Martin Luther, Copernicus, Galileo, and Isaac Newton