Paper Topic:

Thoreau`s life demonstrated the priciples of Emerson`s `Self Reliance`

Standing Tall But Not Alone

Emerson 's essay , Self-Reliance , has been a call to arms for those who look upon the individual as something worthy of esteem and development . This now seems somewhat ironic since he took so much of his spark and innovation from ideas just emerging from the East , a region whose preference for the group will and success over that of the individual is recognized as a significant distinction from the Western perspective of which Emerson is decidedly a part . Certainly , nothing could be more American , and so securely

within the Western framework than individualism . Thoreau as well saw meaning in the single human individual and believed that by himself he could discover at least some of the world 's truths . By leaving his fairly comfortable life behind , we can imagine that he thought himself succeeding in living up to the ideals promoted by his friend and mentor , Mr . Emerson . Yet he failed , in some ways , to answer the full call to self-reliance , though after a fashion that Emerson himself ought to have admitted was the best that ought to have been expected for an individual

At the very least , Emerson would have to agree that Thoreau has rejected the common demands of society , which , everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members . The virtue most in request is conformity (Emerson , 16 . Thoreau has not conformed Having once landed himself comfortably in the city , no man of their era and particular society was likely to cast himself back out into the wilderness with nothing but his wits and fairly undeveloped backwoods skills to guide him , giving up the comforts of the parlor and the well-provided table that each man surely enjoyed . Whether or not Thoreau honestly did , detect and watch that gleam of light which flashes across his mind from within ' in retreating to the woods or if he had less inspired reasons for his experiment , only he could have answered (Emerson , 15 . theless , Emerson would have to admit that his actions at least appear like something true and honest rather than anything that would have been dictated to him by the customs of society

Certainly , there had been people who sowed beans before Thoreau had done so , and men and women as well who appreciated the thrust and flow of nature at the same time as they could recognize the impressiveness of a train 's muscular presence in the distance . Men had gone to prison before because they would not pay taxes they felt they did not owe . However , it was certainly Thoreau who first said , with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time (Emerson , 15 Especially because he did not make a permanent life out there in the woods , the year that Thoreau dedicated to his little experiment was a meaningful investment . He wasn 't out there to make a life for himself He was out there to prove a point and illustrate truths...

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