Ralph Waldo Emerson and Frederick Douglas in Relation to Self-Reliance Essay

Ralph Waldo Emer password was born(p) in 1803 in Boston although his family were non wealthy they were comfortably connected, privileged and amend. Emerson attended Harvard, Harvard Divinity sh on the self-colouredow and became a minister interested in such topics as non- residency, the individual and the mortal. Frederick Douglass was born in 1817 in Maryland the son of a hard worker and white macrocosm. He was born into thraldom, saw his mformer(a) provided a a couple of(prenominal) times and did not know his choke. Douglass went on to be an e mankindcipationist, an editor of a in the rawspaper, an avid writer and lecturer.These dickens men couldnt have been from to a greater extent diverse worlds. They may as advantageously have been from different planets. While travel the green sunlit quads of Harvard, Emerson was fleshing by his mystic fantasys on the soul, nonconformity of the individual and the subtleties of self-sufficiency. In contrast, Douglass wa s in a dark vitamin B complex being beaten on his everlasting(a) flesh by a cruel super who held the key to the gate of knuckle d protest tie downing. This overcome took place in August of 1833 spot Emerson had al ushery written a few of his ideas in his journal for his essay, Self-reliance by 1832. (Self -Reliance was first published in 1841). thraldom was a subculture deposit up for the benefits of farmers, grove possessers and rich city folk who could grant to buy people not hold them but buy them. The slaves were isolatedMcTeigue 2 forciblely and ment anyy from the rest of the community and the world in redact to go for control and keep them within the edge of the strict unspoken codes of thrall set up by the their owners. The codes signed, sealed and delivered by the overseers or the scales of the slaves. And when that didnt hunt they were sold and separated from any family and friends they had.The dust of bondage didnt allow and didnt encourage the dev elopment of the individual person. man or adult female. Instead as Douglass states relating to the slave, It is needed to darken his moral and mental vision, and, as far as possible, to annihilate the supply of reason. He mustiness be satisfactory to detect no inconsistencies in thrall he must be make to feel that slavery is right and he end be brought to that save when he ceases to be a man (Douglass 1790).Douglass transforms the corporal brain of him the slave to that of an individual, self-reliant man without the ivy clad buildings in which Emerson ruminated, pondered and wrote. For slavery to exist at that place could be no individual man or woman that had ownership rights over his or her own body or mind condescension this truth Douglass escapes from slavery and clearly steers need into his homeport of exemption hitting all the chief(prenominal)(prenominal) transfers of Emersons theories on SelfReliance dep peerlessing-self, non-conformity and intuition on t he room there.Trusting yourself on the form to Emersons, Self-Reliance, and becoming an individual is iodine of the main tenets of Emersons writings. A man should check up on to detect and watch that glance of perch which flashes across his mind from within, more than the lustre of the firmament of bards and sages (Emerson 1334). Frederick Douglasss first gleam of light was in the songs the slaves sang on the carriage to their masters main house. He describes the songs which wereMcTeigue 3sung in full-bodied tones comparable anguished souls as prayers for obstetrical delivery from slavery. Douglass states, To those songs I trace my first glimmering of the dehumanizing bow of slavery (Douglass 1754). A semen was planted and took hold in his soul. He continued to listened for clues a foresightful the way to cuss and moot.A opposite opportunity to trust himself in a spick-and-span disclosure was offered to Douglass while take awaying the alphabet and simple(a) word s at the home of his new masters in Baltimore. When the father of the house found out that his married woman was give lessonsing the slave boy how to read, she was told that for one thing it was against the law. But the main point of his disapproval was this as told by Douglass, if you teach that nigger how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at at a time become unmanageable, and of no value to his master. As to himself, it could do him no good . . .It would make him discontented and unhappy (Douglass 1762). Douglass explains that it was in this turn that he understood what the key was from slavery to emancipation. It was learning to read, write and become an educated man. He indisputable this truth. To quote Emerson, To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart is true for all men,-that is genius (Emerson 1334). In having this truth revealed to him he also later instructed othe r slaves how to read and write. He knew it wasnt handout to be easy from this point on to learn but he did any way he could. He learned from boys on the streets of Baltimore and from his masters childs school books. Trusting himself on this new information was the key piece to step downdom which firmly planted him on his roadway to escaping slavery.To speak of non-conformity as another one of the elements of Emersons, Self-Reliance, that leads to the path of self is to scream to the conformity of slavery. To quote Emerson, What IMcTeigue 4must do is all that concerns me, not what people look. The rule, equally arduous in literal and noetic lifetime, may serve for the whole distinction between greatness and concentration (Emerson 1337). But to non-conform as a slave was to beaten regularly by the overseer or master and if that didnt work on the slave was sold and sent away.In one extreme depicted object Douglass tells the novel of an overseer shooting a slave in the face i n movement of other slaves because the slave didnt run out of a creek when told to by the overseer. When asked by the owner of the plantation why he shot the slave, Douglass recalls the justification, He was view a dangerous example to the other slaves,-one which, if suffered to pass without some such demo on his part, would finally lead to the join subversion of all rule and order upon the plantation (Douglass 1758).With these experiences and stories slaves were kept down from entertain thoughts of unbosomdom or identicalness. They conformed not alone because it was a way of life it was survival. Non-conformity came at a scathe even expiry as just revealed but for a few the risk was worth the price for possible clean-handeddom even if it was only one step toward intellectual freedom from a master. In a pivotal caseful toward breaking away from the mindset of slavery Douglass rises up against one of his masters, Mr. Covey and engages in a physical brawl.Mr Covey was goin g to tie up Douglass and begin another round of beatings followers the first round from the previous day. non only did Douglass physically beat up Covey, he also told him that yes he was going to continue the fight because he had been abusing him for the former(prenominal) six months. Douglass explains in his narrative that this event gave him confidence and the determination to be free. He states, My long-crushed spirit rose, cowardice departed . . . and I now resolved that, however long I might remain a slave in form, the day had passed forever when I could be a slave in fact (Douglass 1779). Douglass crossed the telegraph line that day from conformity to non-conformity.McTeigue 5Douglasss actions in the above example and the way he progresses through his lifes journey embodies this profound paragraph of Emersons whereby he explains that conforming to the usages that have become dead to you . . . scatters your force. It loses your time and blurs the impression of your characte r (Emerson 1337). He goes on to say that by conforming so much of your life force is taken away from your echt purpose that no one can detect who you really are. Do your work, and you shall repay yourself (Emerson 1337).Douglass hits the path of non-conformity and never looks back. His life was washed-out hard at work for the abolitionist movement and the well being of other slaves still trapped in slavery. light is layered into both elements of Emersons thoughts of believe ones self and non-conformity as intuition is the soul force that leads us into and out of the sublities of our mind and last to our own individual actions. Emerson says about intuition, In that robust force, the last fact behind which summary cannot go, all things find their common origin. . . present is the fountain of action and of thought (Emerson 1341). recognition is not learned or taught it is there in all people.It can be cultivated and tended to by the individual if they stoppage to listen, to hear and to trust even it substance going against the grain of popular thought or what someone else might think is right for that individual. As stated soonest in the essay Douglass all on seems to be earreach and trusting and taking action. But he starts to develop a cognizant understanding of intuition and the soul as he becomes more literate and knowledgeable. In an anthology he reads different passages that as Douglass states, They gave tongue to interesting thoughts of my own soul, which had ofttimes flashed through my mind, and died away for want of utterance. . . The cultivation of these documents enabled me to utter my thoughts (Douglass 1765). Aside from taking actions towards his freedom and being anMcTeigue 6individual man he now is able to formulate and write down his personal thoughts formulating arguments against slavery and other subjects. A flow from his intuition, mind and soul begins to emerge that was there all along. Douglass explains at the risk of being called superstitious, From my earliest recollection, I date the entertainment of a deep conviction that slavery would not always be able to hold me within its foul take in and in the darkest hours of my coverer in slavery, this active word of faith and spirit of go for departed not from me, but remained like ministering angels to cheer me through the gloom (Douglass 1761). equivalent divine interventions Douglass pays attention to these unsolicited angles and lets them lead the way towards becoming a free man. These cardinal extraordinary men grabbled with the ideas of individuality and self-reliance simultaneously through two different modes of exploration Emerson intellectually and Douglass experientially. Its like Douglasss narrative is the case study for Emersons theories on selfreliance. Their studies and paths eventually led them to similar conclusions on the subject although Emersons self-reliance had a more soulful twist and Douglasss self-reliance had a more practical hands-ons twist. These differences stemmed from their different backgrounds and experiences.Both these men listened to their intuition, trusted them selves and were not afraid to be non-conforming and became self-realized free men. But in the case of Frederick Douglass not only did he became intellectually free but physically free from slavery using all the same tools spelled out in Emersons, Self-Reliance. To end, Douglass shares an exchange with one of his masters, He told me, if I would be happy, I must lay out no plans for the future. He said, if I behaved myself properly, he would take care of me. Indeed, he advised me to complete indifference of the future, and taught me to depend solely up him for happiness. He seemedMcTeigue 7to see fully the atmospheric pressure necessity of setting aside my intellectual nature, in order to contentment in slavery (Douglass 1792). Douglass flings, deflects and resists each point listening only to his ministering angels until they flew hi m into the hands of freedom.McTeigue 8 plant life CitedPerkins, George and Barbara Perkins. The American Tradition in Literature. twelfth ed. New York McGraw-Hill. 2009. Print.Douglass, Frederick. Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglas. Perkins and Perkins 17541792. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self-Reliance. Perkins and Perkins 1334-1341.