Mark Jespersen

Wedemeyer
2A
7/10/14
Transcendentalism Mini-essay 1: Emerson Quote
In his transcendentalist essay Self-Reliance Emerson explores the idea of the deletion of the
individual in favor of the unity and conformity found in a faceless society. Emerson believes that
(s)ociety is a joint-stock company where the majority is in conspiracy against the individual in the
name of furthering the so called greater good. Emersons comparison of society to a joint-stock
company, a company where the shareholder is favored over the individual consumer, illustrates his
claim by helping us relate a more concrete idea to one that is so abstract, allowing us to understand his
fear of individual erasure. He believes that the whole world is against him, that the virtue the world
wants is conformity, not celebration of the individual soul. Emersons fears that society will achieve
its goal and the individual will be lost. Individuality and free thinking are core ideals for
transcendentalists, and the loss of these ideals would spell the demise of their way of thinking
(Emerson).

In his novel Fahrenheit 451 Bradbury uses the extreme conformity of his fictional society to
critique the erasure of individuality by society, a viewpoint and fear that he shares with Emerson and
other transcendentalists. During Montags conversation with Captain Beatty about the history of
fireman the captain brings up the bright boy in school that everyone selected for beatings and
tortures while growing up. Bradbury uses this boy as an example of an individual. He is beat up for

being smart, for being different; much like those who stick out in our society are punished or leered at
until they conform. Beatty believes that not everyone is born free and equal, (like) the constitution
says, but that we are made equal in order to please those that would otherwise be inferior (Bradbury
55). Bradbury, much like Emerson, believes he is under attack, that society is in conspiracy against
individuals. The bright boy is punished for being smart and is bullied until he is made equal. Bradbury
takes the ideas expressed by Emerson and hyperbolizes it by using this dystopian society in order to
express what could happen if we leave the joint stock company unchecked. (Emerson)

In his piece Into the Wild Jon Krakauer uses the ideologies of the protagonist Chris
McCandless to criticize how society values conformity and security over self-expression and
individualism, ideologies that are based on and expanded from Emersons essay Self-Reliance. In a
letter to urbanite Ron Franz, McCandless urges the old man to abandon his un-happy circumstances,
brought on by his life of security and conformity, in favor of a life filled with adventure, where
Chris believes Ron will find (t)he joy of life (Krakauer 57). Krakauer is upset with how society
respects safety and conformity over values he believes lead to a full life, such as adventure and
individuality. He uses Chris, an avid transcendentalist, and a character we have grown to like, to
attempt to persuade the reader that self-reliance is the vehicle to joy. Throughout the book McCandless
denies societies request for conformity, opting instead to lead a life of adventure (Emerson).
Krakauer wishes to be self-reliant, free standing and individualistic against the faceless mass he sees
society as, and he wishes for other people to do the same. Much like Emerson, he believes that those
who live a life that goes against the societal norm will be happier and more fulfilled.