Self Reliance Rhetorical Analysis

High school students experience a lot of pressure to “fit in”, or to be “normal”. This age old concept applies not only to adolescents, but to all people. We strive to think and act like those we respect or idolize. Ralph Waldo Emerson attacks the imitation of others in his essay Self Reliance, stating instead that people should think and speak what they themselves think. Emerson sets up a strong rhetorical situation for his argument by using a common societal trait as his exigence. His urgency for writing is rooted in his dislike of imitation. Emerson sees how people, rather than expressing their own thoughts, speak only the words of others. This could be caused by lacking self confidence, but is most likely merely a fact of life. As a champion of thinking for one’s self, Emerson composed his essay to bring awareness to the common man. His essay primarily targets middle and lower

class citizens because they are the ones holding on to the words of political leaders or other persons of great power. In Emerson’s eye, making common people self-reliant would increase overall awareness of the world and create a more effective democracy. He works toward this purpose by contrasting self-reliance with conformity, and providing a logical appeal to the reader as to why they should trust their own thoughts.
Emerson structures his essay so that the beginning mandates the importance of self-reliance and the rest supports this idea with examples and counterarguments. In the first paragraph, Emerson discusses how reverent we are to historical figures such as Moses and Plato. He explains that we respect them because they were free thinkers and did not hide behind someone else’s words. Interestingly enough, Emerson considers Moses a free thinker. According to the book of Genesis in the Christian Bible, Moses was carrying out the work of his God in order to free the Israelites from Slavery in Egypt. Moses therefore was not acting under free thought, which shows that Emerson likely doesn’t believe in a higher being. Emerson’s religious beliefs, or lack thereof, provide crucial insight to his essay. It is fitting that a man so dedicated to nonconformity would be opposed to practicing religion. In the next few paragraphs Emerson uses the innocence of children to show nonconformity in its purest form. He writes “Infancy conforms to nobody: all conform to it, so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of the adults who prattle and play to it.” In his eloquent wording he chastises people for treating babies as inferior, when they are, in his line of thought, the ultimate in self-reliance. Since they don’t have any outside thoughts to model theirs after they are forced to be free thinkers, examples to all others. This first example leads to further examples that are intent on causing the audience to understand the importance of thinking for themselves.
Later on in his writing, Emerson moves toward driving his point home with discussions of virtue.

He writes, “all things real are so by so much virtue as they contain.” Emerson says that things that are unique and individual are real, so therefore people who are mere imitations of society are neither unique nor individual. This makes it impossible for them to have distinct characteristics and qualities. A person with greater self reliance, Emerson’s goal for society, is an individual who brings value to themselves and others. In his closing paragraph, Emerson drives the final point home in his case for self-reliance. “Nothing can bring you peace but yourself. Nothing can bring you peace but the triumph of principles.” The major goal in life is seen as being at peace with oneself, a goal nearly impossible if one is an imitation of someone else. Becoming self reliant is not so simple as making a single decision, it is a journey. Emerson provides crucial explanation and motivation for one to become self-reliant, and leaves it to the reader to take this goal upon

themselves.