Rhetorical Analysis On Self Reliance

Philosopher, Ralph Waldo Emerson in his essay "Self-Reliance", examines that people should follow their instincts and ideas. Emerson's purpose is to tell people to trust themselves and their ideas. He adopts a didactic Tone in order to convey his transcendental thinking to the reader for what is happening during this time which is the Mexican war and slavery. Emerson achieves his purpose through the use of explosive diction. Emerson starts off immediately by introducing metaphors, paradox, and personification. Emerson writes "society is a joint stock company," "parting is all we know of heaven and all we need is hell," and " Words as hard as cannon balls" to establish the meaning behind it to the audience. Emerson's use of transcendental ideas, in

In the first paragraph, Emerson introduces explosive diction that is self- absorbed and determining at the same time. The idea of people should think for themselves is immediately instilled at the start with word words that are grasping when one reads them. Some textual examples that are found in Emerson's essay are "influence," "yourself," and "pre-established" , these words help Emerson send out his message to the audience. When Emerson says "Trust thyself…self -reliance… be a non -conformist" helps connect to the ideas of transcendentalists. This in turn makes them more likely to agree with Emerson. It's as if Emerson wants people to do what they feel or what works out for each and every person. This relates to the purpose because he wants society to position themselves in following their own beliefs. Later, Emerson's tone shifts to a pompous tone when he starts using words like "contradict," "exclaim," and "misunderstood." Emerson does in order for the reader to know what is trying to be said. This helps him achieves his purpose by showing the reader that they should influence themselves and not