Self-Reliance Response

It is the man that stays true to himself that can really be called a real man. In Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Self-Reliance", he clearly states if you want to be a real man that stick to your gut feeling, whatever it is that makes you happy, stick by that. don't rely on society or others to tell you how to act or what type of person to be. In this case Emerson uses logos and pathos to inscribe in your head that your lifestyle should be the only lifestyle you live by.

Emerson immediately presents his point using logos with his title. Self-reliance to me is basically self explanatory. You basically need to rely on yourself for everything. If you decide that you want to let other people decide your fate in the world then what is the point of a brain. You might as well let people tell you what to do and then live it. Instead choices made should come from deep inside of you. You were given special qualities by God to do whatever it is that you dream of. Why would anyone forfeit their own right to do as they please? But others have basically no other choice in the world but to rely on other people. These people are either poor or are having such sever problems with one's self that they don't have the knowledge to live on their own. That is when Emerson becomes one with your sensitive side connecting by a fine line of pathos.

Emerson connects with pathos by making you look at the downside to this. You can take an example of people in poverty and think on that. Most of them have nothing. Therefore it is the duty of others to try to help them out. They have no choice but to become reliant on others to survive. If they made bad choices early in life they will be affecting not only themselves but the rest of their family and future offspring. Thus forcing these people to become reliant on society as well. Now if you think about people who are maybe mentally ill then they also have been forced to rely on others. Unfortunately they cannot experience the journey into manhood by reliance completely on themselves. Some people make you mad though because they want to take advantage of society and be lazy. They think that everyone will take care of them. But instead they will just be looked at as little babies. It is only the ones that are fully reliant on themselves that can be looked at as fully grown men of society. They are the ones that will be looked at as self-reliant men that you can trust. If they decide that all of a sudden they want to rely on themselves the people will just look at them as if they are very inconsistent. Consistency is key to being a self reliable man. If you break this consistency then you will not be a self-reliable man.

As said before, it is the one who is fully true to himself that will be a self=reliable man. Stay to what you feel is right and live your life as you please. These are the main keys to being a self-reliable man and should be followed if you want to be one.