American Literature / Unit 7 AML 0607 short lesson, about 20 seconds
"Self-Reliance"
Captions available
The idea
Published in eighteen forty-one, "Self-Reliance" argues that a person should trust their own intuition against the pressure of society, which it calls a conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members. Envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide, and each must accept the place providence has found.
In practice
Trust yourself against the crowd.
Where people slip
The essay attacks conformity, not community.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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