Emerson and Thoreau both prescribe self-reform as opposed to group reform, advocating total focus on the self. Emerson adds, “I do not wish to expiate, but to live. My life is for itself and not for a spectacle...Few and mean as my gifts may be, I actually am, and do not need for my own assurance or the assurance of my fellows any secondary testimony”(22). Obviously Emerson lives for himself, or at least claims to, and expects that this philosophy is applicable to all individuals in society. For Emerson then, the ultimate man is the man who can rise above societal pressures, establish an identity of his own where the man lives for himself, and relies only upon a man’s self in forging ahead. In addition, this ultimate man, in practicing this selfish identity, takes no account of the advice or aid offered by friends, family or co-workers, nor does he feel the need to make any charitable contributions to society. “Are they my poor?” (22) Emerson asks. Thoreau, as always, follows Emerson, asserting, “I am not responsible for the successful working of the machinery of society”(12). Here, I believe, is potentially the most damaging aspect of the Transcendentalist philosophy of individualism. Where would our country be without the selfless, philanthropic endeavors of such great men as John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, and Julius Rosenwald? Such charitable actions touch our collective hearts and stoke the fires of good will that lurk beneath the rigid exterior that insulates us from the harsh realities of society. Were the American public to become so self-involved, to the point of neglect for their fellow man, our humanity would suffer in consequence.

The arrogance of Self-Reliance and Civil-Disobedience establish a foundation in both American identity and literature, one which not only serves to form popular conceptions of morality in America but also, and more meaningfully to exclude all those who are not white, male, property owners or businessmen. Emerson, Thoreau, and the other Transcendentalists create the dream for which America must strive, a dream so established by rules of tradition, forgoing the real experiences of women, people of different races and ethnicities, and lower socioeconomic classes. The struggle in America, consequently, becomes one in which the citizens are not pressured by individuals, but rather each member of society feels and learns the overwhelming impulse that

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