Ralph Emerson Individualism

In his essay, “Self Reliance”, Ralph Emerson urges his readers to retain the outspokenness of a small child who freely speaks his mind. He also urges readers to avoid envying or imitating others viewed as models of perfection. Instead, he says, readers should take pride in their own individuality and never be afraid to express their own original ideas. In addition, he says, they should refuse to conform to the ways of the popular culture and its shallow ideals. Rather, they should live up to their own ideals. Emerson might have impacted the readers of his essay, but not the society as a whole. Our American society still struggles to obtain their own individualism. During my reading of Emerson’s first six paragraphs, I felt inspired to believe of the unbelievable, to do the unthinkable, and to trust my gut feelings, my intuition, my heart, my spirit and soul. I felt like those first paragraphs changed me, but I was caught up in the moment. I realized I was still hesitant to speak my mind in class the very moment I closed Emerson’s reading. Change was not going to happen until I made it happen. That is how today’s American society is. We see powerful people
In a part of his essay, Emerson compares children to men. “a boy is the master of society, independent, irresponsible [...] He cumbers himself never about consequences [...] But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness”. Children are encountered with a self reliant behavior, non-hesitant. They have an imagination and could potentially speak out their mind to share something creative with other children. On the other hand, adults have difficulty being spontaneous and do not necessarily do everything they want to do. Adults are still considered to be hesitant towards the decisions being made. The men spoken of in Emerson’s quote reflects today’s American society. People, in general, are not expressing themselves, afraid of being