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Thoreau And Ralph Waldo Emerson: Jealousy

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Many people in today's society are deciding not to be themselves, but rather conforming to the norm. People are living their lives using a counterfeit identity instead of being the original person that God made them out to be. God made everyone different and unique for a reason; He did not intend for everyone to be the same. The problem that is prevalent across the world is that nobody wants to be seen has weird or different from everybody else, so they do whatever it takes to be seen as normal. When people make that decision to fall into the pressures of fitting in, they tend to lose sight of who they really are. After people lose sight of who they really are, they become increasingly more depressed and discontent with their lives. On the …show more content…

One unhealthy characteristic that everybody seems to possess is jealousy, but "envy is ignorance" (Emerson, Self Reliance 185), and it is completely unnecessary because each person varies. Emerson strongly believes that people should have a tight relationship with God so they can fully understand who they are and what they are supposed to do. Conformity kills originality and people just need to "accept the place the divine providence has found for [them]" (Emerson, Self Reliance 186). Once people can overcome the tremendous pressures of fitting in, they can finally start living the life that God has put in place for them. If the pressure is too strong, and people start to conform, they will never truly live their lives because their true selves will never prevail, so overall "imitation is suicide" (Emerson, Self Reliance …show more content…

Nonconformity was an important idea during that time. Abolition was not a popular idea during that time and the people that did not have a specific preference decided to conform and vote with the majority, which was to maintain slavery. Both Emerson and Thoreau did not conform and they stood up for what they believed in, even if their opinion was unpopular. They were courageous because they knew that "God will not have his work made manifest by cowards" (Emerson, Self Reliance 185). The fact that they contradicted the norm was significant during that time period and the same nonconformity idea is still extremely significant today. In order for people to make a change in their lives they need to be themselves. This idea will always be relevant no matter the time

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