Excerpt from “Self-Reliance” By Ralph Waldo Emerson

Directions: Reread or refer back to the section(s) indicated. Then answer the questions.

START at PARAGRAPH 1
STOP at the end of PARAGRAPH 3

1. What claim does Emerson establish through the two epigraphs at the beginning of the passage?

2. Skill focus: Premise. What premise about human nature does Emerson rely on Paragraph 3

3. Hobbes argues that man’s “state of nature” is one of the conflicts of chaos. How does Emerson’s view of man differ from Hobbes?

4. Explain the meaning of the following quotations from paragraph 7: “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblins of little minds”

5. How does Emerson’s view of the individual contrast with those Hobbes and Locke

6. Emerson concludes the excerpt with the phrase: “To be great is to be misunderstood.” How is this phrase an appropriate summation of his argument? Write a 500 word response to this question and give examples.