self-reliance

Can we be self-reliant? Since class on Monday I have really thought about what it means to be self-reliant. Is living off your own land self-reliant? Is not needing anyone emotionally or physically? Is anyone really self-reliant. Initially I thought yes but now I do not think so. I do not think human nature would allow us to be self-reliant. If simply for anything other than to form a human relationship. I could live on an island in a hut, farm the land, boil the ocean water, make my own clothes, etc but I would not be complete if I did not have contact with my children or my family or the one that I love. So no, I do not think we can be.... Ralph Waldo Emerson survived great loss in his life by the age of 20. Coming from a long line of ministers, Emerson was forced to question a God who would be so cruel(Cheever 33). This is the same question that was being asked in the first blog of the class. Harold Kushner, who also suffered great loss in his life, wanted to know how to reconcile with a God that would take so much away. Emerson spent time contemplating this as well. His answer was a more personal relationship with God. He believed that God did not intend for us to be good on Sunday and not so good the rest of the week. (Cheever 34). In Emerson's Revelation he realized that man has lost his way in becoming man. He believes that men believed in material items and wealth to determine their place in the world of men. Emerson rejected this ideology. He believed man could prove his manhood by his actions and beliefs. Through morality, virtue, resolution, conviction, non-conformity, and integrity a man proves his masculinity. In of Self-Reliance, Emerson quotes, "Man is his own star"(1161). Man must light his own way and rely on his self to determine who he is. To continue to support this thought, Emerson stated, "insist on yourself, never imitate"(1176). The last quote that really strikes me is, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of our own mind"(1162). Honestly it makes me think of the movie Cast Away with Tom Hanks. Tom Hank's character is stranded on an island for a considerable amount of time. While he is there he must learn to be self-reliant. He learns to start a fire from sticks, fish with a spear, create shelter, heal his wounds, and remain sane. He achieves sanity by accidentally creating a face on a volleyball with his bloody hand. This ball is his salvation. The ball is what keeps him sane. This movie also popped into my mind during our class discussion about intuition and instinct. Tom Hank's character was in a situation where he could only rely on his intuition and instinct. (I could not figure out how to link the video from YouTube...but here is the link... www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TWYDogv4WQ On the handout from class entitled Emerson & self-made masculinity, I was struck by the quote, "It was the woman's job to act as moral restraint, since men, alone, were not capable of restraining their baser emotions, their violence, their aggressive, competitive, acquisitive edge." This quote took me to Moby Dick. Ahab was unable to control his rage and his obsession toward Moby Dick. Ahab rants about the whale that took his leg and how he will chase him around the world to kill him..."Aye, aye! and I'll chase him round Good Hope, and round the Horn, and round the Norway Maelstrom, and round perdition's flames before I give him up"(2314). Ahab's insanity or obsession for this whale is what makes him powerful but also it is what destroys him. He was unable to keep his sanity or his mind. What is even more interesting about the mental instability of Ahab is his crew's willingness to follow him. Yes, Ahab had a one track mind and he was going after Moby Dick, do or die...but why did his crew follow? "More and more strangely and fiercely glad and approving, grew the countenance of the old man at every shout; while the mariners began to gaze curiously at each other, as if marvelling how it was that they themselves became so excited" (2313). Ahab had such a charisma about him and his determination that it convinced his crew to be excited as well. Ahab's insanity allowed him to provide a leadership for the men of the Pequod. Perhaps the crew viewed his leadership as a type of masculinity...rigid and uncompromising. Cheever, Susan. American Bloomsbury. New York: Simon & Schuster. 2006.