Self-Reliance Group

Question:

soccerdude
soccerdude
Student
High School - 11th Grade

What is Emerson's purpose in writing about self-reliance? Is his purpose similar to that of "from Nature"

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Posted by soccerdude on Thursday November 5, 2009 at 8:40 PM and tagged with emerson, from nature, purpose, self-reliance, transcendentalism.

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  1. pohnpei397 Teacher
    Community / Jr. College

    eNotes Editor

    In "Self-Reliance," Emerson's purpose is to argue that people need to avoid conformity.  He argues that the only way to be a "man" is to do your own thing and to follow your own conscience.  So the main point of that essay is that you do what you believe is right, rather than going with what society thinks.

    By contrast, "Nature" is way more philosophical.  In that essay, he's talking about how he believes that people and the universe are pretty much part of each other.  And he's talking about his ideas about God and how we're all sort of part of God.

    So the one is more of a argument about how people should live while the other is more of a philsophical discussion of the nature of the universe and of love and of God.

    Sources:
    http://www.enotes.com/nature-salem/nature
    http://www.enotes.com/self-reliance

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    Posted by pohnpei397 on Thursday November 5, 2009 at 8:49 PM