Kateb's Analysis

Kateb's analysis of Emerson's Self-Reliance was very interesting to see. One of the things I liked about it was that we could see someone else's reactions and the perspective of someone who read the exact same thing I did. It is always interesting to see what other people get out of it that differs from you. I really liked the way that Kateb brought up the topic of Emerson's Self Reliance. Instead of going straight into analyzing it, he explained how it has been quoted and used even in advertisement and commercials as well (Kateb). It is just kind of a fun fact that you would not know from only reading Emerson's essay. In the beginning Kateb also takes the time to kind of explain Emerson's style of writing. He explains it as very assertive, but not always supported. "In fact, many of the assertions are not assertions at all. He does not stand behind most of his utterances, even though he expends his full virtue in them. In his experiments, he is more like Plato than even Nietzsche is. Emerson is not Thoreau" (Kateb). One of the things Kateb does a really good job is using support through out his analysis. He uses several quotes and different sources to back up what he is talking about. One example would be when he quotes all of the things that significant people had said about Emerson. The quotes stated exactly who said them and used accurate citing of his sources as well. These quotes described Emerson's character, helping you get a better idea of Emerson's perspective while reading his essay. One quote was by Walt Whitman who explained how Emerson is the type of person who does not take an exact side, but is open minded and sees all sides. Whitman also talks about how Emerson was trying to influence others to believe in little besides themselves, being self-reliant(Kateb). One of the key points talked about in Emerson's Self-Reliance is the importance of individualism and self trust. Kateb takes not of this and further expands on this idea. He talks about how in order to be self reliant, you must also have self trust. This is what gives an individual the ability to be their own person and be creative. "Every individual is a new individual and can, with self-trust, do in the world something not yet done but worth doing. Creativity is always possible; creativity is actual when people trust themselves"(Kateb). I liked this part of Kateb's analysis because I think it effectively elaborates the potential and importance of self trust and individualism that Emerson talked about in his essay. One of the things I personally took out reading Emerson's Self Reliance was that individual experience is more valuable than something you are taught or read about in books. Kateb noticed this as well and expanded on Emerson's idea. "The fact is that Emerson insists with a characteristic insistence that we can assimilate our active experience only retrospectively and that this condition is not lamentable but productive of intense intellectuality. It may be easier to observe immediately than to experience immediately, but memory is needed even to make the best of one's immediate observations" (Kateb). Overall I think Kateb's analysis was very well written and definitely helped understand Emerson's essay form a different point of view.

Emerson, Ralph Waldo. "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind." In Emerson's Transcendental Etudes. Board of Trustees of the Leland Stanford Junior University. 2003. Quoted as "Self-Reliance and the Life of the Mind" in Bloom, Harold, ed. Ralph Waldo Emerson, Updated Edition, Bloom's Modern Critical Views. New York: Chelsea House Publishing, 2006. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc