The American Scholar (A)

The first time I read Ralp Waldo Emerson’s “The American Scholar”, I was confused on what he was talking about. After reading and analyzing it a couple times more, I figured out Emerson’s main point. His main point is that we are required to create new ideas and discoveries as individual thinkers. A true thinker has to have self-trust and the courage to make sacrifices so that his or her opinions are heard. Throughout his piece, Emerson dwells on how important individualism is. The main points Emerson make in his piece is on how influential the past is and the action a scholar takes.

Towards the middle of “The American Scholar”, Emerson explains on how dangerous books can be towards a thinker. He says that books tempt a scholar from creating original ideas. “Books are written on it by thinkers, not by Man Thinking” (Emerson pg. 697). I strongly disagree with him because a thinker gets inspired by reading books. Reading books can let a thinker explore new ideas that he never knew, and he can discover more information on it. Emerson’s ideal of an American Scholar is the ability to create and imagine, but books can give inspiration to scholars so they can imagine more. Emerson’s other main point in this essay is how important it is for a scholar to take action. Unlike his other main point, I agree with this one. You can have all the knowledge, but if you are not motivated to use it, you will achieve nothing. “Inaction is cowardice, but there can be no scholar without the heroic mind” (Emerson pg. 699). This simply means that a scholar has to take chances and learn more from experiences. This is true because you do not learn anything without taking risks and not being afraid to express what you know. Finally, I support Emerson’s idea of individualism. We all have to have this so we can contribute and add new ideas to universal ideas.