In the essay Self- Reliance by Ralph Waldo Emerson, Emerson explains how to be an honorable person in society. Emerson explains that in order to be successful one should define themselves as a non- conformist. Emerson repeatedly stresses the importance of only acting on what one believes in and what is important to them, and not to let others influence them or define them. Emerson shows this when he says, "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think" (pg.23). This quote shows that the only thing that people should only act on what concerns them, because in the end our actions define us. If we worry about what others think or their opinions of us, we will end up letting others have an influence over us, therefore we are conforming based on others. In order to define our place in society we need to be non- conformists.
I like how you talked about the influence that people have on others decisions. Other people make a large impact on society and usually people make decisions in order to follow a large group. Emerson talked a lot about not letting others influence you. I also agree that Emerson thinks that our main goal in society is to be nonconformists. I wrote about that in my blog too.
ReplyDeleteI agree that Emerson talked about you should not conform to the ideas of society. However, I don't agree with his assessment that we shouldn't let others influence us. There is a lot of presumption in his belief, because he doesn't allow for the fact that a person's belief may be wrong. We all believe differently, and that is why ideas are restricted. If we, as individuals, can think and believe apostiri, why must all beliefs must be different from those around us?
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