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Self-Reliance Summary

Summary (Masterpieces of American Literature)


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In his book titled Essays, Self-Reliance follows istor! so that a balanced and self-
contained unit can be created out of these two" #boundin$ with short a%horisms, the
essa! be$ins with an admonition to belie&e in the true self, which is considered in essence
identical with the 'ni&ersal S%irit( )rust th!self( e&er! heart &ibrates to that iron strin$"
*merson then holds infanc!, which is fa&orabl! contrasted with adulthood, as a model for
one to follow in the culti&ation of a s%irit of inde%endence or nonconformit!" is
meta%horical use of a babe as a model of nonconformit! is a radical twist of Christ+s
ele&ation of it as an emblem of total de%endence on ,od"
#s does -ordsworth, *merson re$ards a %erson+s $rowth normall! as a %rocess of losin$
one+s moral sentiment or s%irit of nonconformit!" Societ! is considered to ha&e an
ad&erse effect on the $rowth of each indi&idual+s inde%endent s%irit, whereas solitude
ma! contribute to it" Senseless %hilanthro%!, which encoura$es de%endence on outside
hel%, is thus also thou$ht to be detrimental" -hen *merson states that one should li&e b!
one+s instinct, whether or not it be from the de&il, he is attem%tin$ to use e.a$$eration to
shock his audience/ his idea is that the inherent moral sentiment, which makes one self-
sufficient, cannot come from the de&il" )otal trust in one+s emotions ma! well result in
contradiction when one+s emotions chan$e, howe&er/ notin$ this, *merson sim%l! retorts
that life itself is an or$anic %rocess, ine&itabl! in&ol&in$ contradiction" #ctin$ in
accordance with true feelin$, he belie&es, will automaticall! brin$ about a sound life"
0iewed in li$ht of self, histor! is thus the bio$ra%h! of a few unusuall! %owerful fi$ures"
a&in$ em%hasi1ed the im%ortance of nonconformit!, he be$ins to e.%lore the
%hiloso%hical basis for self-reliance" #ccordin$ to *merson, there is an instinct or
intuition in each indi&idual drawin$ u%on the 'ni&ersal S%irit as the e&er-de%endable
$uidin$ %rinci%le" 2ecause of the identification of intuition with the 'ni&ersal S%irit, one
is sim%l! followin$ its command when one acts in accordance with one+s intuition" )he
%resence of the self-sufficin$ and self-contained 'ni&ersal S%irit in each indi&idual thus
3ustifies one+s li&in$ in and for the %resent without ha&in$ to refer either to the %ast or to
the future"
-hereas Christ alone has traditionall! been re$arded as the -ord made flesh, *merson
re$ards e&er! human %otentiall! as a reincarnation of the -ord" Conse4uentl!, re$ret of
the %ast and %ra!er for the future as a means to effect %ri&ate ends are both diseases of
human will and should be a&oided" )ra&elin$ with the ho%e to see somethin$ $reater than
the self, in *merson+s &iew, would sim%l! be senseless" #s a result of this moralistic &iew,
societ!, like nature, ma! chan$e but ne&er ad&ance" )!%ical of his conclusions, the end of
this essa!, which re%eats the theme of self-reliance and %redicts the sub3u$ation of
Chance under human will based on self-reliance, sounds $reatl! o%timistic"

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