In the excerpt from “Self-Reliance,” Ralph Waldo Emerson is trying to communicate to us. What should we learn and what can we learn from what he has written in his story. Ralph wrote his essay “Self-Reliance,” in 1841. In his essay he wants us to find independence by his writing and the three things he wants us to find are to trust yourself, working hard for our goals, and by embracing the power of changing our minds.


Emerson first talks about is that we should trust ourselves and that every heart has a vibration to an iron string. Wherever you are that is the place that the providence has found for you, so you should accept what that has picked for you to be at. Many people have different childlike to their age. People make different decisions that they want and many people may pick a harder choice and will take them to another path.


Emerson also talks about working hard for our goals that we want to achieve. Many people have different ways to achieve their own goal and if they achieve it than that means they worked hard for what they get. They may have a easier task to accomplish their need and some may need a lot more work. Do what makes you feel that’s in the right path and have confidence in what your working for.


The last thing that Emerson talks about is embracing the power of changing our minds. We can change our mind into thinking what is bad and good. People may not have the power to change our minds without any thought. When he says “Speak what you think but now in hard words, and to morrow speak what to-morrow think in hard words again.” I think that it means that you should speak hard and then soft and then hard again.


Emerson wrote this in 1841 of self-reliance. He talks about to trust yourself, work hard for your goals, and by embracing the power to change your mind. These are some things he wants to try to communicate to us.


-Rylan