An Eye for an “I” -- An Insight into Emerson’s Thought of Self-reliance

Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-reliance is one of the major writings that helped carve the ethnic American individualism and form the intellectual basis of today's writers. The thought of self-reliance inspires people not to conform to social conventions but to rely on themselves. This theory can be considered as his perspectives about life. This thesis analyzes the active and mental self-reliance and furthermore, explores this thought through the following theories: circle and compensation. A deeper understanding of self-reliance is therefore deduced through the analysis. Besides, self-reliant individuals are so closely associated with the relationship with it. Index Terms--self-reliance, individualism, active self-reliance, mental self-reliance