Transcendentalists vs. Society

Ralph Waldo Emerson, one of the most important transcendentalist authors of early nineteenth-century New England, advocates higher individualism, obeying instinct, the hope and belief of miracles, and the great importance of self-reliance. In the transcendentalism-based essay, “Self-Reliance”, Emerson says that individualism, independence, and inconsistency are how a man should live. However, the rest of society sees the transcendentalist – who stay away and alone, who don’t participate in public events, abolition of slavery or even …showed first 75 words of 871 total…

…showed last 75 words of 871 total…rest of society did not understand each other and although Emerson and other authors of transcendentalist works stood apart from the world, opposing society, they ostensibly did not successfully clarify their ways, and the argument between the two groups caused them to shun each other before knowing each other. The conflict between the transcendentalists and society was caused because people shunned those unlike them, and with his virtuoso, Emerson defended the transcendentalists brilliantly with “Self-Reliance”.