American Soul

John Eddings Pd.3 12/3/08 Proves American soul characteristics The America soul has positive and negative attributes that people experience. The purpose of this is to prove Self Reliance has characteristics that demonstrate good traits of the American Soul. The American soul has many characteristics that show its true colors. There are many characteristics that prove the American soul is positive. The first characteristic of a good American soul is satisfied. The second characteristic that shows the American soul is confident. The last example that shows the true American soul is powerful. One characteristic that comes through this text is satisfied. Ralph Waldo Emerson says, “A man is relieved and gay when he has put his heart into his work and done his best” (Emerson 209). This shows that the American soul is satisfied because when a man has done all of his work by himself and did it to the best of his ability he will be happy and relieved that the task is done. There are other quotes that support the positive effects of the American soul. In Self Reliance it state, “that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion” (Emerson 209). This shows satisfaction by saying a man must be satisfied with himself because he is all he has till the end, for better and worse. There is one more example that shows satisfied is a good example of the American soul. Clearly this quote reflects satisfied because, “Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind” (Emerson 210). This shows that nothing is sacred except the satisfaction of your peace of mind and your thoughts. One could say that confident is a good example of the true American soul. In this essay it states, “Trust thyself: Every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson 209). This quote shows true American soul have confidence because everyone’s heart is connected; so have the confidence to know what is being done is the best for everyone. There are also other quotes that supports confident as a exceptional example of the American soul. The quote says, “the power which resides in him is new in nature and none but he know what that is which he can do” (Emerson 209). This example proves to be a great definition of the American soul because it speaks of how the confidence that is inside is a new power that no person knows until it is unleashed. The last example that proves confident is towards the middle of the essay. It proclaims, “No kernel of nourishing corn can come to him through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given for him to till.”(Emerson 210). The quote shows confidence by saying that if he has the confidence to do what he needs to be done then all the work submitted into it will prosper greatly for him. The final promising characteristic that was chosen is powerful. Emerson says, “envy is ignorance, imitation is suicide; …that though the wide universe is full of good” (Emerson 209). This sows powerful because it shows that a person has enough power to realize how envy is ignorance and imitation is suicide because all you are doing is

following the crowd. There are more quotes that further support the idea of powerful as the characteristic of the American soul. The essay says, “To be great is to be misunderstood…” (Emerson 210). The reason this supports the fact of power is that when people are misunderstood it creates fear and fear can be generated into power, which puts general views into existence. Another quote that supports powerful is towards the end of the text. Emerson says, “These are the voices which we hear in solitude, but grow faint and inaudible as we enter into the world” (Emerson 210). This shows power by saying you have the power to listen to self-generated thoughts and act on what is moral, but when you are put into surroundings with other individuals then your inner voice shrinks and eventually diminishes. In conclusion, the positive and negative traits were portrayed throughout Self Reliance. Self Reliance shows traits of the true American soul. The American soul in this text is shown as a positive experience for each human being who does work for themselves and not for others. The first trait used to describe the American soul was satisfied. The second characteristic that was used was, confident. The final word used to show how the essay was a good example of the American soul was powerful.