Free Essays on Self-Reliance to Get Inspired & Learn by Example

The concepts of self and self- reliance became most notable in New England in the 18th century when Puritans became interested in the acquisition of education more than anything else. The Puritans were keen on acquiring education so as to question some of the fundamental principles that governed belief in the existence of God. And it is through their quest that early literature documented the need for them to become self-reliant and to know and understand the self. At the time, life was considered a test that could either lead to condemnation or eternal success. Most written works of Continue reading...

The concept of self-reliance is of a certain reputation to American democracy. Independence of the mind has led to the shaping of mentality of the first inhabitants challenged with the aggression of harsh conditions and external forces of the new world. As argued, self-reliance has come as a result of one’s lifestyle and common experience thus forming the core of the society which based its actions on the social, cultural, economic, or political force.
The unhealthy life of America enhanced the development of self-reliant minds among the American colonists. It is because life in America, specifically areas that Continue reading...

The Self-Reliant Man and the Confidence Man

Karen Halttunen (59) described the confidence man in her book ‘Confidence Men and Painted Women’ about the middle class culture of the rapidly industrializing 19th century America. On the other hand, Ralph Waldo Emerson’s (73) ‘Self-Reliance’ glorifies the independence of choice and judgments of a person within the society in the 19th century to accommodate the rapidly evolving society. A relation of these two works by these authors reveals that the self-reliant man that Waldo describes is almost identical to the confidence man that Halttunen describes.
Halttunen describes three types of confidence men; the youth’s urban companion, Continue reading...

Social welfare is an institutional belief that denotes equality however it also recognizes those who stand rewarded for their efforts as well as those that are not performers. It advocates independence and self-reliance, it also promises that ill-fated people somehow are responsible for their fates. For those that are successful in life, social welfare imposes altruism and caring for those that need help (Eisler, 2007). Social welfare functions for the continuity of the society by the continual prevention of instability. Everyone has a personal definition of social welfare. The society is responsible for the values that influence the social Continue reading...