Rhetorical Analysis: The American Scholar

The American Scholar: In this speech although primarily addressed to the extraordinarily intelligent members of Phi Beta Kappa society in Harvard College, speaker Ralph Waldo Emerson later published this speech to share his thoughts on an abstract concept of ‘The American Scholar’. Considered as one of the original American intellectuals, Emerson calls for an all American scholar, independent from America’s European ties, seeking the intellect from the sources of America. Emerson discusses this concept of the “Man thinking” with a hope to familiarize his audience with how a scholar should be educated and what his duties are. And while discussing all these points, Emerson uses various similes, metaphors and a lot of repetition to strongly

Robbins shapes his speech with his own experiences from life, active participation from his present audience and his logical explanations about his topic of speech. To summarize the reasons behind human actions, Robbins categorizes six human needs; certainty, uncertainty, significance, connection or love, growth and feeling to contribute beyond ourselves.
He says humans need certainty to feel secure e.g. we take up jobs to satisfy our basic needs and feel safe about our chances of survival. Uncertainty on the other hand is something that keeps our lives exciting. Significance is something that humans need to feel important in the society. They all kinds of stuff to feel important such as getting tattoos or by spreading violence. Connection or love is also important in order to feel other’s company and feel loved even if sometimes it might hurt emotionally. Robbins says these first four needs are needs of personality and people can satisfy those easily. However, the next two needs i.e. growth and a feeling to give back to our society are spiritual needs of a human being that gives him a feeling of