ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

Detailed explanation-1: -What virtue does society demand, and what does Emerson recommend in its place? Society demands conformity but Emerson recommends self reliance instead.

Detailed explanation-2: -Emerson believed that individualism, personal responsibility, and nonconformity were essential to a thriving society. But to get there Emerson knew that each individual had to do the work on themselves to be able to achieve this level of individualism.

Detailed explanation-3: -"Society everywhere is in conspiracy against the manhood of every one of its members” Society seeks conformity. Society wants to impose government, rules, law on its people so they can be puppet-like. Emerson proposes that men live based on their own individual instincts thereby creating their own internal law.

Detailed explanation-4: -As a creator, the nonconformist embraces the ambiguity of reality, and carves out a life based on their uniqueness. For such an individual one’s inner law is higher than the collective laws, and the sacred within more important than the social idols worshipped by others.