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Brenda Anaya
Paul Healy
English 11
March 10, 2014

Self-Acceptance

In our society today, everyone is constantly surrounded by media that portrays "ideal
people". Women might strive to be as beautiful as models and men might strive to be muscular
like famous athletes. People won't be content with themselves because there are deemed
unworthy according to the media. Several transcendentalists have written pieces that go against
this idea of conformity. After reading Ralph Waldo Emerson's Self-Reliance, it became clear that
he was trying to inform people of the role society has on our lives; Society tries to change us, but
not accept us. Emerson's line "Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide; he must take himself for
better for worse as his portion" (2) demonstrates his beliefs and meaning of Self-Reliance that
people should not let others influence who they shall become and begin to accept themselves as
they are.
Outside influences and our own thinking constantly clash against each other as we live our
daily lives. Throughout Self-Reliance, Emerson is expressing to us what he believes to be the
way we should all live our lives. One of his main beliefs can be found in the sentence, "He who
in the midst of the crowd keeps perfect sweetness the independence of solitude" (37). They don't
necessarily believe we should forever be in solitude or always blend in with the crowd, but have
a balance between the interactions with others and ourselves. In addition, the author believes
that we should always speak what is on our mind. The sentence Emerson uses to express this
belief is "Speak what you think now in hard words and to-morrow speak what to-morrow thinks

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in hard words again, though it contradict everything you said today" (54). Also, he uses this
sentence to explain that people constantly shift their viewpoints on a subject and we shouldn't be
ashamed of doing so. As a result, we become more like ourselves than we were at first. At the
end of this piece, Emerson uses the quote "To be great is to be misunderstood," (61) to
emphasize the result of being yourself. Not many people will understand who we are or our
motives because we don't have the experiences that lead to our aspirations. We don't need others'
acceptance in order to succeed in life, but we do need our own and from there we can move
forward.
Despite our efforts in trying to be ourselves, there are always instances where it's easier to
follow the crowd. The author describes what society does with people who are different with the
sentence "For nonconformity the world whips you with displeasure" (39) . When people see that
someone is different or that the person has a quality they dislike, there is a tendency to disrespect
them and force them to hide that quality. They try to make the person feel ashamed for having
that quality or being different. The narrator understands how people feel when confronted with a
situation like this when he states, "Our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because
the eyes of others have no data for computing our orbit than our past acts and we are loth to
disappoint them" (47). Everyone wants to be accepted and to fit in, but what's the point if you
aren't being true to yourself. Emerson's quote, "Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide; he must
take himself for better for worse as his portion" (2) highlights the overall meaning that we
shouldn't let these obstacles hold us back. Being jealous of others for fitting in and trying to be
like them only hide who you truly are. Essentially, trying to mimic others' qualities is like killing
your personality which represents who you are. There isn't a single person who is flawless in the

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world. By being proud and accepting of your own flaws and weaknesses, we can begin to drown
the voices of society and stop trying to please them.
Overall, we shouldn't strive to be like someone else because we are all special and unique.
Emerson constantly reminds us of the importance of accepting ourselves especially through the
line "Envy is ignorance; imitation is suicide; he must take himself for better for worse as his
portion" (2). He explains the obstacles that may interfere when we try to gain self-trust, but we'll
be able to overcome them. Society can't hold us back from becoming ourselves or change who
we really are. They shouldn't be able to easily convince us that we should aim to be the
'beautiful' models or the 'skillful' athlete. Their influences shouldn't force us to 'kill' our qualities
in order to fit in. In the end, we shouldn't be afraid to be who we really are because others are
unaccepting. As long as we accept ourselves, we'll be able to stand tall and demonstrate how far
the power of self-trust will take us.