"These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but they grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world. Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of everyone of its members. Society is a joint-stock company, in which the members agree, for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion. It loves not realities and creators, but names and customs."
I chose this quote because it seemed to be the most prominent theme in the beginning paragraphs. Emerson described being yourself and not conforming to the virtues and ideals of society with utmost importance. There is another quote, "...that imitation is suicide;..." that also strengthens Emerson's argument in that you should be your own person instead of shaping yourself around society. I agree with Emerson in that you should be unique and your own individual--we are all different people and should accept it instead of trying to change it.
Changing our actions and lives to fit society's ideals creates unhappiness. If we are all alike there is nothing to appreciate in others since we ourselves have it. Emerson had it right when he said to just be yourself.
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I agree with what you had to say. Emerson was also trying to say that people need to become more confident in themselves in order to have their own thoughts. Once they can follow their thoughts then they can break away from society.
ReplyDeleteI agree. If everyone was the same the world would be pretty boring. That being said, I think there will always be some form of conformity one way or another. People have role models they want to be like and sometimes it can be tough to break from conformity and just be yourself. But as he said somewhere in the article, you can't be happy unless you are yourself.
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I think this quote did an awesome job at showing what the essay really was about. Conformity is boring. We only get one life--what's the point of waking up every day and pretending to be someone you're not? It just creates a sense of loneliness and unhappiness. Where would we be today if we hadn't spent countless hours playing Harry Potter as kids? I'll tell you where--we'd be boring old kids who don't know basic Defense Against the Dark Arts skills. And really, what's the point of life without those?
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