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Quotes
Ralph Waldo Emerson
The author. Emerson’s voice in this essay is a confident one that makes controversial and provocative statements designed to move the reader to listen to his or her own voice and ignore societal pressures. Emerson’s…
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Minor Characters
The Individual
The audience for Emerson’s essay. “The individual” refers to ordinary Americans whose intuition is constantly assaulted by self-doubt and societal pressures. Emerson exhorts the individual to reject these pressures and to achieve greatness by becoming self-reliant and trusting in intuition.
Society
The enemy of self-reliance. Society pressures individuals to conform to social norms that oppress them. To Emerson, society is worthy of scorn.
