Self-Reliance Response

Today’s society consists of many things that cause people to find the opinions of others as an important factor in their social lives. Females of this century seek ambitions of being perfectly fit, wearing the newest design clothing, and much more. Males of this era want to be muscular, athletic, and popular with the ladies. In order to attain all of these goals and wishes, people may have to behave like someone they really are not. The author of the Essay two Self-Reliance believed that everyone should stay true to themselves and think they were perfect. In order to convey this message to the audience, the author used logos, pathos, and imagery. Without these writing techniques, the author would not have been able to convey their message, as successfully as they did, to their audience.

With the use of logos the author was able to provide the audience with credibility for the main idea. “Familiar as the voice of the mind is to each, the highest merit we ascribe to Moses, Plato, and Milton is, that they set at naught books and traditions, and spoke not what men but what they thought.” (Self-Reliance, 1) When the author gives names of specific people, they are implementing a credible source within the essay. The author is also using these people to describe how these people came to succeed in life through their own thoughts and ideas. “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.” (Self-Reliance, 2) The author is using this statement to try and explain to the audience how the only person or thing that can discover their feelings is themselves. “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best.” (Self-Reliance, 2) With this statement, the author provides the audience with a real-life situation. If someone puts all their effort into something, then they would be proud of their finished work. Even though logos provides the essay with credibility, it cannot appeal to the audience’s emotions.

When the author puts pathos into the essay, they are able to attract the audience’s emotions to lean towards the main
idea. “The sentiment they instill is of more value than any thought they may contain.” (Self-Reliance, 1) Since the author of “Self-Reliance” is clearly expressing to the audience how the poem is filled with “sentiment”, the author of the essay is showing how the poem was trying to appeal to the audience’s emotions. In the Essay two Self-Reliance, the author states “envy is ignorance.” (Self-Reliance, 2) If a person envies someone else, then they are being ignorant to what wonderful things that are currently in their lives. “Do you think the youth has no force, because he cannot speak to you and me?” (Self-Reliance, 2) Since the author places emphasis on how even the young children of today still have a voice, they are trying to express to the audience of how everyone has a voice and opinion and should execute them on a daily basis. Appealing to the audience’s emotions is a valuable form of getting the audience to agree with the author’s main idea but being able to supply the audience with images of what the author’s main idea is discussing is also an effective way of persuading the audience to believe the author’s main idea.

In using imagery in the essay, the author was able to give the audience the opportunity to view what the author is discussing through mental images. “Else, to-morrow a stranger will say with masterly good sense precisely what we have thought and felt all the time, and we shall be forced to take with shame our own opinion from another.” (Self-Reliance, 2) Since this sentence provided the audience with many details, the author gave the audience everything they needed to form a mental picture of what the stranger looked like. “A boy is in the parlour what the pit is in the playhouse.” (Self-Reliance, 3) Since the author is providing the audience with a realistic situation, they are giving the audience the ability to try to understand the author’s reasoning for believing that everyone should rely on their selves for success. “But the man is, as it were, clapped into jail by his consciousness.” (Self-Reliance, 3) With this statement, the author brings the audience into the world and logic behind one’s soul and inner thoughts. The author wants to show audience of how the mind is a powerful tool that controls the body and must be listened to. Imagery aided in helping to express to the audience the author’s main idea.

Without these writing techniques, the author would not have been able to convey the main idea, as successfully as they did, to their audience. In using logos, pathos, and imagery, the author was able to use many different techniques to try and convince the audience to believe the author’s main idea. Since the author used all of these writing techniques, the essay appealed to the audience’s need for credibility, emotions, and visual representation.