淺析愛默生的《論自助》—人生自主的源泉

1、<p>　　淺析愛默生的《論自助》—人生自主的源泉</p><p><b>　　Abstract</b></p><p>　　Emerson, Ralph Waldo is an outstanding American writer in the nineteenth century. His work Self-Reliance is an import

2、ant and influential work which encourages a man to be confident and independent. Through the analysis and research of Emerson and his works, the thesis explores four main ideas in the work, including “The Confidence” , “

3、The Independence” , “The Personality” , “Showing no Sympathy to the Poor”, of which “The Confidence” is the core point in this thesis. Based on the research of the</p><p><b>　　Key Words</b></p

4、><p>　　Self-reliance; Emerson; enlightenment</p><p><b>　　摘　要</b></p><p>　　拉爾夫&#8226;華爾多&#8226;愛默生是美國十九世紀(jì)著名的作家，《論自助》是其極具影響力的一部作品，也是一部激勵人們自信、獨立的作品。論文從分析、研究愛默生及其作品出發(fā)，探

5、索了作品中的四種主要思想，包括“自信”、“獨立”、“個性”、“拒絕對窮人的同情”，其中，“自信”是論文的核心。在研究作品主要思想的基礎(chǔ)上，論文探討了作品的主要思想對當(dāng)今社會的啟迪和影響，包括對樂觀自信生活態(tài)度的啟迪、對女性自助思想的促進(jìn)、對個人成功的影響及對國家繁榮與富強(qiáng)的影響。</p><p><b>　　關(guān)鍵詞</b></p><p>　　愛默生； 自助 ； 啟迪

6、</p><p>　　Introduction</p><p>　　Emerson, Ralph Waldo was one of the most outstanding American writers in the19th century; he experienced much in his whole life. His Self-Reliance is an influenti

7、al work which deeply attracts many readers. “Believe in Oneself” is the main idea expressed and analyzed in the work. In Self-Reliance, there exist four kinds of important thoughts. The first kind of thought is “The Conf

8、idence”. Emerson advocated that a man must show his opinion confidently and bravely in spite of different ideas. “The </p><p>　　I. A Brief Introduction to Emerson and His Self-Reliance</p><p>　　

9、A. Emerson, Ralph Waldo</p><p>　　Emerson was one of the most outstanding American writers in the 19th century. He was born in a clergyman’s family in Boston in 1803 and raised by his mother and aunt. America

10、 was lively but disordered when he was born. Some people were aware of the appearance of new power, but nobody could express it clearly. He entered Harvard University when he was 14 years old. During this period of time,

11、 he read a large numbers of books about Britain romanticism and enriched his thoughts. Three years later, </p><p>　　Emerson collected all his speech materials and made a book called Essays, including Self-re

12、liance, Love, and Friendship and so on. Emerson’s Essays speaks highly of the man who should trust their own suggestion. He advocated that a man should develop the national pride and opposed following the others’ saying.

13、 Almost all his speeches made a deep influence on America’s national civilization. In 1837, he published a famous speech which declared that the American literature was separated from Brita</p><p>　　B. Self-

14、Reliance</p><p>　　Emerson’s works deeply attract readers, especially Self-Reliance, which is from Essays. This prose is finished according to a series of speech materials between 1836 and 1837. Self-Reliance

15、 is his significant work which expresses his idea of transcendentalism. “Believe in Yourself” is the core point of Self-Reliance. Emerson opposed all forms of imitation in the works. He thought the man should believe he

16、was excellent at any time. The real man should learn how to reject to drift with the stream</p><p>　　Nowadays, there are many books about self-support. The authors express a series of ideas as Emerson did. T

17、he difference is that the common books are easier to be understood. The authors use simple sentences in their works so that all readers can easily know what the authors express. But Emerson’s Self-reliance is needed to r

18、ead many times. He mainly expressed four important ideas in this works, including “The Confidence”, “The Independence”, “The Personality”, “Showing No Sympathy to the Poor”. </p><p>　　II. The Analysis on Eme

19、rson’s Thoughts in Self-Reliance</p><p>　　Self-Reliance is not an average work. Its content is difficult for readers to understand. Emerson showed many of his opinions about life in the work. The most import

20、ant ideas include “The Confidence”, “The Independence”, “The Personality”, and “Showing no Sympathy to the Poor”. These ideas are practicable and meaningful for the reader’s lives.</p><p>　　A. The Confidence

21、 </p><p>　　Self-Reliance is one of Emerson’s important works which express his transcendentalism. “Believe in Oneself” is the core point in it. In the works, Emerson showed his opinions about the confidence.

22、 He criticized all forms of imitation and opposed all self-abased people. The confidence is an evident idea which Emerson gave in Self-Reliance. He thought that the confidence was a very important virtue. The philosophic

23、al idea which he expressed in Self-Reliance had its special power. It enlightened ma</p><p>　　Emerson believed a man must trust himself and be himself. Many self-abased people can’t express themselves bravel

24、y and are ashamed of their divine ideas just because the ideas are their own. Emerson believed that the man should concern his own points of view and keep them steadfastly. In his opinion: “A man should learn to detect a

25、nd watch the gleam of light flashes across his mind from within, more than the luster of the firmament of bards and cages. Yet he dismisses without notice his thought,</p><p>　　There is a popular saying that

26、 “if you think you can, you can”. The confidence is the first step to make success. And Emerson showed the valuable idea in his works. It is believed that the readers are more confident after they finished Self-reliance.

27、</p><p>　　B. The Independence</p><p>　　Just as “The Confidence”, “The Independence” is also a significant idea which Emerson showed in the works. “The Independence” is closely related with the s

28、pirit of self-reliance. The author mentioned “The Independence” everywhere in the works. Emerson supported the man to be the true himself independently.</p><p>　　Each person should act according to what he t

29、hinks. According to Emerson’s original words: “what I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think”(Emerson, P15, 2005)，Emerson thought that the people shouldn’t be influenced by the others. Each one is the

30、 first who knows himself much. It is known that the only right is to conform to the man’s own will, namely, the only wrong thing is what is against his own will. Emerson supported that the people insist on carrying thems

31、elves in the fa</p><p>　　Generally speaking, many people are easily influenced by environment. Emerson sharply opposed this idea in Self-Reliance. He thought the man should cultivate the personality of self-

32、independence. Emerson expressed another kind of viewpoint, that is, consistency, which is in large scale a kind of self-trust. He once said: “A reverence for our past act or word, because the eyes of others have no other

33、 data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them”. (Emerson, </p><p>　　Independence is an indispensable quality for one’s success. Emerson pointed out that the man withou

34、t any independent idea is difficult to conduct himself. Therefore, it is very necessary to form the habit of self-reliance.</p><p>　　C. The Personality</p><p>　　In Self-Reliance, Emerson advocat

35、ed that a man should do everything according to his own will. This thought is closely related with the idea of confidence. A confident man is the one who always keeps his own personality. It is a very important thought w

36、hich Emerson expressed in the works. It does help the readers to be confident.</p><p>　　Nowadays, many people tend to chase fashion and imitate stars. Some people love the stars’ characters deeply and even w

37、ant to be a star. In fact, these people are excellent in many aspects, but they never look for their merits carefully. It is said in The Best Seller in the World: “I’m the greatest miracle in the nature; no one is same w

38、ith me since the god created the world. My head, eyes, ears, hands are distinctive. I’m the uniqueness in the world.”(Og Mandino, p45, 1996) From this opinion, i</p><p>　　As a mater of fact, it is the man’s

39、faith, not the environment that influences people’s lives. A successful man is the one who deeply trusts his inner power. He is never influenced by the environment.</p><p>　　D. Showing no Sympathy to the Poo

40、r</p><p>　　In Self-reliance, Emerson fundamentally showed the idea of confidence and independence. Besides these ideas, he illustrated the idea of “Showing no sympathy to the Poor”. This point of view agrees

41、 with the confidence and independence. Emerson indirectly showed the reason why the man is poor and why no sympathy should be showed to the poor. </p><p>　　From Self-Reliance, Emerson never sympathized with

42、the person who had no relation with him. He just did what he should do. He said: “Expect me not to show causes why I seek or why I exclude company. Then again, do not tell me, as a good man did today, of my obligation to

43、 put all poor men in good situations. Are they my poor? I tell your, your foolish philanthropist, that I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent. I give to such men as do not belong to me and whom I do not belong.”(Emerson

44、, P12, 20</p><p>　　The poor condition is not terrible, but the poor mind is a very serious problem. The man should never help the poor with money, but give them a tool to produce wealth by themselves, or tea

45、ch them to be independent and challengeable. Emerson’s opinions towards the poor have given the readers a meaningful enlightenment.</p><p>　　III．Self-Reliance’s Enlightenment on Today’s Society</p>&l

46、t;p>　　Self-Reliance gives readers much help in coping with their lives. It exerts enlightenment on readers to be confident and independent. It teaches man to take advancing attitudes towards life. Besides, these ideas

47、 enlighten female’s life. It is also of great help for individuals’ progress and a country’s development.</p><p>　　A. Attitudes towards Life</p><p>　　Self-Reliance profoundly inspires a man to s

48、trengthen his self-confidence. A young man said in a forum: “If they are afraid of other’s different suggestion and give up their own thinking, then that’s losing themselves. No matter what they do, they should keep defi

49、nite point of view and independent thinking”.(Smear, P49,2002).He further explained that everyone’s idea is different, no one can make the others’ the same with he himself, so just think about the objection but neglect t

50、he irrelevant di</p><p>　　The attitudes towards life have two choices. One is to die and the other is to live. Emerson’s Self-Reliance teaches the readers to follow their own thoughts and take optimistic att

51、itudes towards life. Everything has two sides, the most important is that which side the man chooses. A man should be confident everyday, and then each day is beautiful and without worry. Emerson showed in his works that

52、 each man should be independent to cope with his problems, but not always seek for assistance. The </p><p>　　B. The Female’s Self-Reliance</p><p>　　It is known that man and woman are born of ine

53、quality in human history. No matter how successful the women’s liberation is, this bias will forever occupy people’s minds. With the development of society, some female people with spirits of self-support fiercely object

54、 this thought. Women have their own forte in most time while the men don’t have. It is accepted that women’s social status is highly improved. According to the investigation, the female officers or managers are highly in

55、creased and ac</p><p>　　However, although a small part of girls can’t live on their own, most women are aware of the crisis, and most of them can deal with their lives completely and independently. On Emerso

56、n’s views, whether a man or woman is, he/she should depend on themselves except the general assistance from each other. As an important part in human being, women should have their own understanding, their own careers an

57、d worlds. Some girls who seek fortune or reliance from men are severely looked down upon by socie</p><p>　　From Emerson’s ideas in Self-Reliance, all women should own the self-reliance of idea, of economy, a

58、nd of ability. He advocated the women to strive for the social status and make contributions to the society.</p><p>　　C. The Influence on Individuals</p><p>　　To be a self-independent person can

59、 absolutely change one’s humble life even in the backward society. Generally, the poor people are inclining to be self-reliant for coercion of life. It is well known that the richest man, Li Jiacheng, is the business tyc

60、oon in Hong Kong. It is an evident example that the poor man is ambitious and self-improving so that he can become an uncommon person in later time. Another famous person is the head of board of Meng Niu enterprise, Niu

61、Gengsheng. He was sold ou</p><p>　　The valuable ideas which Emerson showed in Self-Reliance are a great help for individuals’ development. These ideas make each one to be confident and independent. Many peop

62、le’s success is fundamentally due to these two qualities.</p><p>　　D. The Influence on Countries</p><p>　　As the strongest country in the world, America has its own individualities. This country

63、 only enjoys a history of 200 years. In comparison with the other European countries, it is full of innovation and has its own personality. The technology, weapons, comprehensive strength are always in the first place. T

64、he Americas are realistic. Money is vital in their minds so that all Americans are up to their ears for work. Money can be used for fame, social status, even presidency in this country. They a</p><p>　　Almos

65、t every person believes the country should support them with the perfect system so that they can improve their living conditions, but the ideas in Self-Reliance suggest that the high life and well-being can only be acqui

66、red through a man’s own efforts. The people often take a high expectation towards the function of laws. If the laws work well, then they can insure people to enjoy their own achievements and reduce individual sacrifices.

67、 However, the best strict law cannot change the sluggis</p><p>　　The spirit of Self-Independence in Emerson’s Self-Reliance promotes a country’s advancement. The strong and prosperous country is made up of c

68、onfident and independent individuals. Self-Reliance’s enlightenment effectively helps the progress of society.</p><p>　　Conclusion</p><p>　　From above, “The Confidence” is the basic thought and

69、the core point in Emerson’s Self-Reliance. In the work, “The Independence” and “The Personality” are main ideas. ‘Showing no Sympathy to the Poor” represents “The Confidence” and “The Independence”. These four ideas larg

70、ely enlighten many people to form the habits of self-independence. The spirit of self-reliance is the foundation stone of everyone’s success. What’s more, it plays an important role in a country’s prosperity. The spirit

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