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SELF RELIANCE PROHIBITED

Ralph Waldo Emerson makes it clear that we should return to our states of genius and

become self-reliant. Although his writings were meant only for the white male, it influenced

many others as well. Members of society need to stop censoring themselves, as well as others,

because it becomes a world not worth living in when forced to assimilate. Kate Chopin was a

student of the Emerson belief system and she saw this as well. She is one of the many people

who depicts censorship leading to devastation within her writings. For centuries the way to fit

within a society is always to assimilate, otherwise you are seen as outrageous and rude. “I ought

go upright and vital, and speak the rude truth in all ways” (Emerson 1) says Emerson in regards

to culture affecting ones actions. We would be better people if we could go upright and speak our

mind consistently without a negative connotation applied.

Women from birth are trained to become submissive “lady like” housewives. Edna

Pontellier, a character from “The Awakening” by Kate Chopin, was no exception to this cultural

norm. She had a good husband, two kids, and a good amount of wealth at her disposal. Yet Edna

was more of a possession and child in this time. At the age of 28 she began to realize that she

An indescribable oppression, which seemed to generate in some

unfamiliar part of her consciousness, filled her whole being with a

vague anguish. It was like a shadow, like a mist passing across her

soul’s summer day It was strange and unfamiliar; it was a mood.

This leads her to experience multiple epiphanies that give her an awakening.

Edna realizes that the life she’s been living is not one she wanted to exist in, so she

promises herself she will go to find what does make her happy and will never take a step back.

She leaves her husband and her kids. Here Chopin metatextualizes Emerson, “I shun father and

mother, and wife and brother when my genius calls me” (Emerson 3).  She wanted the feet they

took from her at birth back. Men have feet and can move where and when they wanted to, she

wanted the same amount of mobility. Her genius called, and it was art. So she has her mentor

Mademoiselle help her into this process. Being an artist already Mademoiselle has some first

To be an artist includes much;…the artist must possess the

courageous    soul…Courageous, ma foi! The Brave soul. The soul

that dares and defies. (Chopin 4)

Edna is persistent, and even after a pushback such as this one she is still willing to head towards

her goal of self-reliance and freedom. She has begun to have a taste of it and she knows there is

Step one and two when trying to become self-reliant is leave what holds you back then

find what frees you.  For Rena and John Characters from “The House behind the Cedars” they

believe what held them back was the fact that they were of African descent. So they take the first

steps, they leave their homes where people know they’re black and they begin life anew in a

white society. Being mulattoes this works for John who left home first. He has tremendous

success, and when he comes back for his sister Rena it begins as success but ends in tragedy.

Societies will not allow a person to be self-reliant. Whether it be through force or mental

repression, being self-reliant represents disloyalty to some people’s societies, in their head you

think you’re better than they are or have a right they feel you do not deserve

The laws for Edna and the Walden’s were similar. Women’s rights were due to the

Napoleonic Code, which were brought to the American people from the European standards. The

code states several things. One is that when a man is relocating his woman HAS to follow. As

well as the man can cheat on wife with no repercussions as long as the mistress isn’t brought

home. Women were equity, an insurance that the male was not ever lonely if his bedroom

associates ever decided to leave. Like Edna a character in “A Doll’s House” Nora leaves her

husband and her kids. As she packs to leave she tells her husband:

Torvald. I have heard that when a wife deserts her husband’s

house, as I am doing now, he is legally free from all obligations

towards her. In any case I set you free from all your obligations.

You are not to feel yourself bound in the slightest way, any more

than I shall. There must be perfect freedom on both sides. (Henrik

Edna releases herself from any actions she felt were obligatory with in her relationship. She is

For African Americans it was a period where slavery just ended and almost no one in

society was ready to accept this. They were no longer technically property, but most definitely

lower than a third rate citizen. Both women and African Americans had to assimilate, a lot of

generations were born into this. Instead of some having to assimilate systems were set up so that

they were trained and raised to be this way already. For instance a young girl being bought a play

oven, baby doll that has “real spit up action”, and a stroller were just given the training tools for

her future, while maintaining a sense of “herself”.

Crow Foot, Sitting Bull’s son shows him how they allow him to catch his own food. To

me this is the most powerful scene, as well as the best representation of what the Europeans were

doing to the Natives. In the three steps of assimilation; Language, Religion, and Education,

getting food falls under one of these. They believe that educated people need not hunt for their

food but raise it and kill it. The reason they allowed Crow Foot and others to “Hunt “ for their

meal is because a major part of structured assimilation is assuring people still feel like they’re

being themselves. They also make them into children, only giving them clothes and food when

they ask for it. If you have to ask for your essentials every time you need them it is a constant

The cultures that were the most singular with nature were the Native American. They saw this

land as beautiful and as alive as they were. They had more than respect for nature they had an

internal bond. Their bond was so strong that they would die for their beliefs in nature. Like Edna

they would never take a step back. Edna made this rule to make sure her path to self-reliance was

arrived at, but for the Native Americans have already reached it. So anything other than what

they had was taking away the freedom they had for all these years.

The Sioux could not simply give in. The Sioux was one of the last tribes to give in, even when

they did they continued with the Ghost Dance. This was a dance brought to the Native

Americans by a prophet by the name of Wovoka. The ghost dance to the tribes were a way to

reunite them with their dead loved ones. The hope was to bring peace, prosperity, and unity to

their tribe, situation, and lives. To the soldiers they only believed the Ghost Dance was to spark a

revolution which had the dance banned, anyone caught participating in these dances would be

handled by the soldiers. The natives would not conform. Society would not let them be self-

reliant anymore. To take a step back would be like death to them, but not taking a step back was

death to them. They had to die to keep their beliefs alive. A Sioux proverb says; “It is easy to be

brave from a distance, easy and quite safe”. (Wounded Knee 6) They were noble, they were

brave, and as the proverb says it was not safe.

The Sioux was a living representation of “Civil Disobedience” by Henry David Thoreau.

Essentially this is the refusal to comply with governments rules, usually based from personal

beliefs that it is wrong to follow the laws. Thoreau cannot comprehend how one can be satisfied

with not getting back what is theirs. He says:

How can a man be satisfied to entertain an opinion merely, and

enjoy it? Is there any enjoyment in it, if his opinion is that he is

aggrieved? If you are cheated out of a single dollar by your

neighbor, you do not rest satisfied with knowing you are cheated,

or with saying that you are cheated, or even with petition him to

pay you your due; but you take effectual steps at once to obtain the

full amount, and see to it that you are never cheated again.

The Sioux seem to have the beliefs that these 19th and 20th century great minds believe we

should have now. Europe seem to have robbed the Natives of their home. Seems like the world

lost the chance to have them pass on their beliefs. This was like the bully being put in the room

with the good kid expecting or hoping the good child would rub off on the bully. What did

happen was the bully not only corrupted the good kid but he killed him after he wouldn’t act

Emerson gives us the solution to find our genius. “Self-Reliance” by Emerson claims:

What pretty oracles nature yields us on this text in the face and

behavior of children, babes, and even brutes? Their mind being

whole, their eye is yet unconquered, and when we look in their

faces we are disconcerted. Infancy conforms to nobody; all

conform to it; so that one babe commonly makes four or five out of

the adults who prattle and play to it (Emerson 8)

We are suggested to return to return to the unaltered states of living. As an infant who knows

nothing and has yet to conform, and to nature, complete pure nature which follows nothing but

Edna had to die because she couldn’t discover happiness in the era she lived in. There

was a moment when Edna first felt free from this, she finally swims alone, and without the help

of anyone. She felt like she could do anything. She could venture and do what no man could do.

Her suicide was the most selfless thing she did for herself. She went back to freedom, like a

prisoner refusing to abide by the rules of the cage that housed her she set herself free. The

women’s suffrage had not yet started and in Mrs. Pontellier’s eyes I am sure she saw no change n

the behavior of her society and she felt no hope for them. She at a point says:

I would give up the unessential; I would give my money, I would

give my life for my children; but I wouldn’t give myself. I can’t

make it clearer; it’s only something which I am beginning to

comprehend, which is revealing itself to me. (Chopin 9)

She meant every word of this. This was for her children, husband and anyone else who

tried to hold her back when her genius called. To not step forward, to the sea would be giving

herself to the world. Edna definitely tried to embrace tenets from social and cultural ques. Yet

this exact thing is what made her unhappy. Without feeling this sense of freedom she had no

comparison to how trapped she felt previously. Culture won’t let her remove its restricting

shackles. She says she will never again take a step backwards, to ensure herself she is moving

towards her goal. She shuns all others against her genius, yet she was still expected to censor

herself. With the rule she set of taking no steps backwards there was no other way to go but back

to the sea where she first felt complete freedom. Much like Oedipus the King when he swore the

person who is guilty would be cast out, he doomed himself as did she did by setting law in her

As much as we are caged and conditioned, like the animals we are we want our freedom

back. It’s instinctual, from birth we have the urge to resist structures being laid out by our

parents. Assimilation, conformity, they are both detrimental to health. The health and

progression of a culture or society. The mental health of us, while we can pretend and be hoaxed

into believing this is what we want but we need to become self-reliant. Censor bars are toxic.

The people being forced to assimilate are always the ones who are hurt, watch how you

“There is a redemptive power that a choice has, rather than

feeling that you’re an effect to all the things that are happening,

make a choice, you just decide, what’s it’s gonna be, who you’re

going to be, how you’re going to do it, you just decide.” (Smith 10)

Our decisions drive our lives. We believe that we have to do things but we never do. We decide

to not run if a gun is pointed at us because we don’t want to face the bullet that’ll end us, but we

can still run if we are willing to face it.

 

Works Cited

Self Reliance Prohibited

Emerson, Ralph Waldo, and Gene Dekovic. Self Reliance. New York: Funk &

Thoreau, Henry David. “Civil Dissobediance.” Henry David Thoreau: Three

Complete Books. New York: Gramercy, 1993. N. pag. Print.

Chopin, Kate. “Kate Chopin: The Awakening, The Storm, Stories, Biography.”

“Napoleonic Code.” Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 1

Sophocles. “Oedipus the King.” Barnes & Noble. N.p., n.d. Web. Women’s “The

Fight for Women’s Suffrage.” History.com. A&E Television Networks, n.d. Web.

“Will Smith Segment on Tavis Smiley.” YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web.

“A Doll’s Henrik Ibsen: Fresco Books:. N.p., n.d. Web.

Brown, Dee. N.p.: n.p., n.d. Massacre At Wounded Knee, 1890. Web.

Dequan Frederick reaseach paper

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“I do not wish them [women] to have power over men; but over themselves.” – Mary Wollstonecraft. Throughout history many women was treated badly in every country, state, government, and communities. Women all over the world had limited rights and privileges that had to be followed. Base on what society was saying, “Being American” for women was to; be a at home mom, taking care the house, the kids, preparing the food, and catering to their husband. Many didn’t have the courage, and the voice to say how they really felt about this until the women Feminism movement was brought about in the late 1960’s-1970. These movements consist of issues concerning the women reproductive rights (abortions), domestic violence, maternity leave, and equal pay wages, women’s suffrage, and sexual harassment, and sexual harassment, sexual violence.
They fought to make sure that all political, social, and economic rights were equal towards all men. There have been books & stories that have been made that started many female movements occurring today. Two stood out to me that shown great examples on how females were portrayed and treated back in the American society of the 20th century. Not only being a female was treated wrong, but also being a black female was even worst. The two books are; The Awakening by: Kate Chopin’s & The House behind the Cedars by: Charles W. Chesnutt. These two books were band off all shelves for many years, causing the masses to turn their backs on the authors. There wasn’t any source before that talked about females getting they own independents and going against the standards of society.
We live in a society today that follow everything that the media portrays on how to live, how to dress, how to look, how to act, But in this case of Edna we are going to see the way she breaks out of what society wants from her. As women, a mother, and a wife, Edna had an Awakening. In the Awakening, the setting starts in the late 1800’s in grand isle, which is a summer holiday resort that very popular wealthy people go. Edna is the main character of this book which she was vacationing with her husband, Leonce and their two sons at the Cottages of Madame Lebrun, where they were staying at. Edna came across a young man name Robert Lebrun the son of Madame Lebrun.
He is known for being the attendant to married women just for the summer, help her out with everything & make sure she’s safe from harm. Edna and Robert spend their nights by the shore talking about things, they relationship in the beginning starts off very innocent. As the summer continued they started to grow closer, Robert being Robert his affections and attention opened up Edna a little. She started to feel more alive about herself and even started painting again like she did when she was very young. One night she decided to face her fears to swim out into the shore, there she had her awakening of her own independence and her own sexuality.
Sooner or later Edna and Robert had open up to each other on how they love each other. Every time she spends he time with her husband she feels very depress and sad, but when she’s alone or with Robert she feel very joyful and free. This shows that after her awakening she really started to feel more free about herself and by that she learned what she really want in her life. Robert and the night she swim out into the shore were her awakenings, she really loves Robert and Robert really loved her. The relationship between the two became very serious to the point that Robert left Grand Isle to go back home to avoid any problems from his forbidden love.
Once Edna went back home to her New Orleans as a changed woman, she began to pursue her painting career and started to ignore her social responsibilities which were being a mother to her two sons, and a wife to her husband. By seeing this major change within his own wife, Leonce went to go find answers on why his wife is acting different towards him and his children. He went to go see Dr. Mandelet which is the family physician was describing as a: very wise and enlighten man. Dr. Mandelet said to Leonce to let her Edna do her, because if he tries to stop her it’s just going to add more fuel to her to leave for good, just to cover the fact that he suspected Edna is seeing someone else so he just said that so that Leonce won’t know the truth. So Leonce let Edna home alone while he went on a business trip and while the kids were away. “She was free in her wildness. She was a wanderers, a drop of free water. She belonged to no man and to no city” – Roman Payne. During this time Edna decided to move into a home of her own and finally makes her independence from her former lifestyle as being a mother and wife to her two sons and husband. When she moved she met a town seducer which was a very popular man name Arobin. They became close, but not emotionally close only sexual. Edna at this point isn’t retain by any male figure but is still in love with Robert, but just uses Arobin to satisfy her sexual needs.
At this point Edna started a good relationship with Mademoiselle Reisz, She was the most influential person to Edna awakening. She’s an elderly woman that’s not married and has no kids. She’s very dedicated to her passion which is a pianist, music. Mademoiselle to Edna is view as an Independent and free women, by being around Mademoiselle and learning from her this really put the icing to the cake of Edna Independence.
She gave Edna great advice stating that “She must be brave if she wishes to be an artist, that artist must have a courageous and defiant soul.” – What Mademoiselle stated was very similar to what Ralph Emerson once said “There is a time in every man’s education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion; that though the wide universe is full of good, no kernel of nourishing corn can come to him but through his toil bestowed on that plot of ground which is given to him to till. The power which resides in him is new in nature and none but he knows what that is not which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried.” – Emerson. It related to what Mademoiselle told Edna because Mademoiselle is basically telling her she has to be very passion of her own art work, and shouldn’t care what society says about it only her own opinion matters. Mademoiselle is the only person that really knows about Edna & Robert love for each other and also tells Edna to open up and express her feelings more. Mademoiselle encouraged Edna to be more freely with her emotions and encourage being more self-reliance about her work/self. The night she swim out into the sea this was her first moments of emotional, sexual, and intellectual awakening, now what Mademoiselle told her opened her up even more.
Soon or later Robert returns back to New Orleans and finally express his feelings to Edna. He tells her that he can’t be with her, because he would be committing adultery do to the fact that she’s still a married woman. “You have been a very, very foolish boy, wasting your time dreaming of impossible things when you speak of Mr. Pontellier setting me free! I am no longer one of Mr. Pontellier’s possessions to dispose of or not. I give myself where I choose. If he were to say, ‘Here, Robert, take her and be happy; she is yours,’ I should laugh at you both” – Edna. Edna was telling Robert basically she is free from all of the possessions that the society tries to tie her down too, He still was in denial about making that decision with her. As you can see Edna was still trapped into society that she couldn’t escape. She moved out, got her own place, was sexual active with another man, pursed her art career, still society had a way to sneaks up on her. Edna left her home with Robert there and came back to Robert gone with a farewell note stating that he can’t be with her. At this point this was the last but devastating awakening Edna ever experience. Even when Edna had the power to leave the ties of the society, she was still stuck in it because Robert didn’t want to violate the rules of marriage. After this happen Edna sees herself alone in the world, and feels that she doesn’t belong here. So she went back to where she first got her first awakening which was at the Grand Isle shore to give herself to the sea because that’s where she feel that’s the only way she can escape society to gain her own freedom from everyone. Edna felt that she didn’t belong to this world and society, because even when she tries to escape the standards of society it still followed her. This is why Kate Chopin genius was taking from all libraries, because it shown a female knowing her own worth, and finding her own independence. At this time, a “female being independent” Wasn’t even a statement to begin with. “The Awakening” was made around a time when many females didn’t have any rights or privileges for themselves men was the dominant sex back then.
Chopin art work destroyed her career badly just like the character Edna in the book; the society turned their backs on her. I believe Emerson sparked a fire within many artists to push the self-reliance agenda forward throughout the world because; this was a great genius from Chopin. No female around that time discussed about a female leaving her husband, and kids to become independent in a book, but Kate Chopin did. I agree with the character also, because she wasn’t happy at all, with her husband, her children and just her life. If I was in her shoes I’ve would’ve done the same thing, because if I’m not happy and have to sacrifice myself to please others then I would never live up to my own potential. Edna which Chopin wrote about described how she awakened from her sleep and decided to not live up to society standards. This book destroyed her career bad, but If Chopin would’ve wrote and published this book in this era the reaction would’ve been totally different, because females in this era already is acting upon being independent, learning how to know they worth, and learning how to do many things that males are doing. The reaction would be different; her career wouldn’t have been stepped on as it was in the early 20th century.
You think just only being a female was tough back then? Nope. In the situation that occurred with Rena was more then just being a female, it was being a black female at that. Cause of “The House Behind The Cedars” Charles Chesnutt career was destroyed just like Chopin’s, because this was never seen or heard of before that there were a white female mixed with African American and a very popular white man falling in love with each other. As you can see we is talking about a time where Black African Americans didn’t have no rights, couldn’t read a book, couldn’t talk to any white fellows, or be seen with them in public. This time period was even worst on the African American females. This the book that destroyed Chesnutt and was band from shelves for many years. The story starts out when Warwick came to visit his mother and his sister Rena. Warwick is a successful lawyer and was married until his wife passed way leaving him with his son. Warwick asks Rena if she can come to live with him and help take care of his son. `
Once Rena moved in with her brother in Clarence, they attended a tournament where all black knights were in competition with each other. That’s when she met George Tryon, the winner of the tournament & a client of Warwick. He names Rena his Queen of Love and Beauty because she gave him good luck during the game. They began to become very close and Tryon would invite her to the games all the time. At this point, Warwick see that Tryon love for Rena is growing fast and is scared that Tryon would find out about their family secret which is that they are apart of a black heritage.
Warrick really don’t want Tryon to know about their secret because this would destroy his image as well. Warrick seeks to warn Tyron that they have a family secret, but Tyron said that he doesn’t really care about it, because he really loves Rena. This made Rena keep her secret to herself and away from Tryon. Rena really wanted to be with Tyron but knows that even if she do be with him and have a family together without him knowing the family secret, she cant escape it because her kids can come out black.
Rena went back to make sure that her mother is ok knowing that she’s sick and at the same time Tryon went back to Patesville also, because his mother want him to take care of some business with her cousin Dr. Green. At this point Warwick finds a note from Rena stating that she have to go back to Patesville, because of her mother. Sooner or later, Tyron spotted Rena with her mother at the drugstore with Dr. Green. Tyron finds out about their family secret and feels devastated that she was hiding this from him all along, so he writes Warwick a letter saying that he can not marry her no more, but would keep the family secret to his self. At the same time Rena was really depressed and sad about the situation knowing they can’t be together anymore.
Molly friends visit Rena and ask her do she want to go teach at a school for colored children with her cousin Jeff Wain. She agreed to go teach and they threw a party for her and Wain. In mean time Tryon went back to Patesville to take care some business, but also wants to see Rena despite the secret. Tryon went to go see Rena but accidently when Rena decided to dance with Wain, he see’s her happy this made him even more devastated. Rena went to go teach at the school, but does not like it do to the fact by how Wain was acting, and what she heard about his past, she didn’t feel safe staying alone with Wain. So she decided to stay with a student’s family.
Once Tyron found out that Rena was teaching at the school of colors, Tyron decided to make up bribes to the black student name Pluto to deliver a letter to Rena to meet up, but Rena denies it and tells him that there’s no way they can ever see each other again. So Tyron continues to try to meet up with her decided to catch her while she was walking with Pluto back home. Once Rena seen Tryon coming and then seen Wain coming towards her, she ran into the woods where she became very ill. Rena she was very ill and started to loose her mind. She had left her sick bed and ended up collapsing on the ground by a road side where Frank was camping at. He takes her home, but while he’s going home everybody see’s that he’s with white a women. While they were the talk of the town, Tryon hears of this and follows the trail to the house; Rena realizes that Frank was the one that loved the most out of everyone despite her flaw. Once Tryon came to see her that’s when she passed away.
Rena was trapped. Even though she was mixed and Tryon was fully white, she was in love and this book discusses on how love can over look things, but society would always have a say in it. Once Tryon found out that she wasn’t fully white, he didn’t want any parts of her anymore this devastated her completely, even before he found out he was really in love with her and ignored any other flaws. Warwick even warned him that they have a family secret and he over looked it. This shows how society can stop people from being with each other, because at that the time period that Chesnutt wrote this book being a color man was just disgusting to white people, they talked down on them with many mistreated acts. Rena was wrong for falling in love with a white man and Tyron was wrong for loving a black mixed woman in the society eyes. Society took over at the end and stopped them from marrying each other. Once she realized that her best friend was the one that loved her most out of everybody else, that’s when she dies.

Many people didn’t like Chesnutt after this book was made. Chopin & Chesnutt careers were both destroy just because of their own genius. Emerson was used in both novels by both artists very well. Chopin was a white lady that talked about independence from the society standards while Chesnutt was an African American man mixed with white, which talked about a mixed white women falling in love with a pure white man. It wasn’t the fact that these two artists’ nationality and sex were different from each other but it was just the fact that their genius wasn’t acceptable at that time? Emerson played a big part in their genius; self reliance was used throughout these two books. “Greatness is a property for which no man can receive credit too soon; it must be possessed long before it is acknowledged.” – Emerson, I believe both artists gave a little sparked to many revolutions, protests, and movement that’s happening today. Back in the early 20th century females didn’t have a voice to speak out without any punishments giving to them. They were violated against the natural rights under laws such as the Napoleon code. Under such law many had to ask for permission from there husband or father to leave their own homes/property. The kids, property, all documents were under the male name besides the female. We talking about a time that females didn’t have any freedom at all base on what the society was regulating against them.
In conclusion, Emerson was use throughout both books. Chopin and Chesnutt express they genius through their art. At that point of time female was treated badly. It didn’t matter of the race; all female’s was being mistreated wrong. I believe that both books helped start many movements for female rights today. Many couldn’t live their own lives, many couldn’t be with the one they really wanted to be with, and many couldn’t be their selves without the society input in it. I’m very happy the females are getting the rights they deserve today, because back in the 20th century they were treated very badly with many laws and regulations towards them.

 

 

 

REFERENCE

• Chesnutt, Charles, The House Behind the Cedars, South of America, Houghton & Miffin, 1900, 224 pages.
• Chopin, Kate, The Awakening, Louisiana & New Orleans, 1899, 128 pages.
• Emerson, Ralph, The Essential Writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson (Modern Library Classics), 2000 Modern Library, Sept 2000, 880 pages.
• Porter, Anna, Created equal: Voices on Women’s Rights, Palgrave Macmillan, Sept 2009, 224 pages.
• Stott, John, Our Social and Sexual Revolution: Major Issues for a New Century, Baker books, Nov 1999, 256 pages.
• Whelan, Richard, Self-Reliance: The Wisdom of Ralph Waldo Emerson as Inspiration for Daily Living, Crown Publishing Group, 2012, 208 pages.