Reaction to Kateb's Analysis of "Self-Reliance"

        "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" is a literary criticism by George Kateb, where he analyzes Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "Self-Reliance."  Emerson's essay is all about life and promotes the importance of individuality in choices and decisions.  "To repeat: we must not expect anything simple when we take up Emerson on self-reliance. The point put in academic language is that democratic individuality is nothing simple. What, then, more explicitly, is self-reliance? What is reliance on oneself, what does it come to?" (Kateb).  Kateb lets the readers know that Emerson does not take this subject lightly and that he puts forth a ton of effort.  George Kateb admired Emerson for doing just this and for being an individual.  

"What is involved in Emerson's joyous science is something less like seeing all sides of a disputed issue, and more like admiring all sides in an unstoppable struggle. Emerson is eager to present the struggle" (Kateb).  Kateb tells the readers that Emerson likes to state what he thinks about a struggle.  The struggle here is living your OWN life, not following all of the trends and trying to fit in.  People can change their outward appearance and actions, but they cannot change the person inside of them.  God made us all unique and different, which is what makes the human race so interesting.  Every single person in this world just needs to realize that they are the only ones who can be the person they are.  

"Society is a wave. The wave moves onward, but the water of which it is composed does not. The same particle does not rise from the valley to the ridge. Its unity is only phenomenal. The persons who make up a nation to-day, next year die, and their experience with them" (Emerson).  This statement really applies to today's world.  Society is always adjusting and moving on just like a wave in the ocean.  It talks about the particles in the wave die off as the wave moves onward, which is totally true.  The trends and fads stay with society until it decides to move on.  Once the shift takes place, the old atmosphere is left behind while the new one is developed.  This cycle just repeats itself and will continue to repeat itself in the future. 

One topic that George Kateb brings up is that Emerson seems to contradict himself at moments.  “It is well to emphasize at the start Emerson's difficulty and elusiveness. He is full of assertive sentences that may seem unconditional. Every sentence seems a declaration of faith. He seems to stand behind every utterance with his whole being, and risks his being by the completeness of his candor. His variety of declarations tempts us to say that he contradicts himself, but even if we resist the temptation, we are still not sure where he finally stands” (Kateb). This is saying that at times Emerson is hard to understand, but he ends up tying it all back together.  Everything he says, whether people believe it or not, Emerson stands behind it.  That is something that I struggle with, and I know numerous other people who share the same struggle.  It is very hard to stand behind a statement if someone does not agree with you.  If someone disagrees with what you say, it makes you think twice and possibly even makes you change what you previously stood behind.  

George Kateb’s analysis of Emerson’s vision of self-reliance was well written and structured.  The transitions between the different topics were efficient allowing the essay to flow well.  The numerous quotes added in as support helped to make it a reliable and established essay.  Kateb backed each opinion with quotes he found from various works either written by or about Emerson.  Combining countless quotes from different pieces of work added a nice touch to the criticism because it was not just Kateb writing the whole time.  We were able to see differing writing styles and opinions from what Kateb included in his work.  

Emerson, Ralph W. "Self-Reliance." Self-Reliance. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Dec. 2012.

Kateb, George. "Infobase Learning - Login." Infobase Learning - Login. Blooms Literary Reference Online, 2003. Web. 07 Dec. 2012.