Emily Dickinson Nobody And Somebody

The Taoist Dickinson: Nobody and Somebody Life is like a river and a person can either go with the flow or obstruct it. Taoists strive to be the flowing water, while Westerners become obstructive rocks. Both deal with the individual, but their ideas on the individual vary greatly. The difference between the two is set up perfectly in Emily Dickinson’s poem “I’m nobody! Who are you?”. In the poem, the Nobody and the Somebody are opposite beings. The Nobody lives on the fringes, while the Somebody lives in the spot light. In applying Taoist beliefs to Dickinson poem, the differences between Taoist’s beliefs and the Westerner’s “me” mentality appear by associating the Nobody with Taoists and the Somebody with Westerners.
According to the Tao
The Somebody is an attention seeker, like a Westerner who receive the attention he seek with his endless tweets, blogs, posts and selfies. Not only can he talk about every moment of every day, he can also assault people with photos of every second of his life. Westerners have put a lot of stock in the individual and self-gratification through attention. A successful person is seen as someone who has gone out into the world, clawed his way through the masses to stand at the top of the mountain called life. He pays no heed to what had to be done to reach the top, all that matters is that he made it to the top. This is where the “me’ mentality appears. The 'me' mentality gives no care to anyone else but the individual while often leaving disaster in its wake. "To be proud with wealth and honor / Is to sow seeds of one's own downfall" (Tzu 9; 7-8) describes the paradox between the Somebody's "me" mentality and its repercussions. In thinking he is all important, he brings about his own downfall. The Somebody lives fast, plays hard and end up a handsome corpse laden with regrets. In trying too hard, he can push himself to the breaking point resulting in his downfall. The Somebody keeps grasping for anything he can get, even when he has reached rock bottom. He cheats, lies, steals and even kills to get what he want, consequences be