English 2370: Analysis of Emerson's 'American Scholar' Handout

This assignment is an analysis of Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay, "The American Scholar," for an English 2370 course on Readings in American Leadership. The student is tasked with summarizing the essay's thesis and main claims, analyzing three key sentences, and identifying leadership characteristics. The assignment requires the student to explain Emerson's thesis, which emphasizes the need for Americans to establish a distinct cultural identity separate from European influences. The student summarizes the essay's main points, including Emerson's emphasis on rejecting traditional ideals and embracing nature and personal experience. The assignment then requires the student to select and analyze three significant sentences from the reading, exploring their meaning and significance in the context of Emerson's argument. Additionally, the student must identify leadership characteristics from the essay and consider their application in various contexts, including academic, civic, social media, professional, and personal life. The assignment adheres to specific formatting guidelines, including the use of complete sentences, proper citation, and word limits for each section.

English 2370: Readings in American Leadership
Dr. Ann Beebe
Analysis Handout Template: Weeks 1-6
Complete the questions on this handout for Weeks 1-6. Please write in complete sentences and
cite from the essay or speech using current in-text APA or MLA citation. The due dates are listed
on the syllabus and on your weekly checklist posted under each week’s Canvas module.
Your name: _________________
Team A or Team B: ___________
Week: ____________
Reading Assignment: _____________________
Citation Format Used: ___________________
1. Explain the thesis of the essay or speech in your own words (100 words max, cite the
essay)
The primary proposition of the essay which is the speech by Emerson, published
under the name of the ‘The American Scholar’ aimed at laying bare in front of the
audience the ways in which the society of America can fledge in respect of the
entire world specially after the attaining of the Independence from the European
powers. The proposition made by the authors in this respect clearly aimed at
creating a distinct framework of the individuals residing in America so that they
can establish a separate cultural identity of the Americans distinct from the ones
that have been imposed by the Europeans (Emerson, 2015).
2. Summarize of reading’s main claims in your own words (500 words max, cite the
essay)
The speech of Ralph Waldo Emerson, that has been documented under the title of
the book ‘The American Scholar’ aims at establishing and providing the citizens
of America with a framework that would help the citizens to free themselves from
the influences of the American and establish a distinct identity for themselves
keeping aside the European influences. Emerson emphasizes upon the fragmented
identity of the so-called diverse nation and the trend is essential to the attributes of
the humankind. As such mankind can be divided on the basis of the one marked
by their divided nature and the ones who work towards the betterment of the
mankind and elevate themselves to the status of the man, dedicated to the need of
the nation. In order to attain this stage, the immediate step that needs to be taken
is to reject the traditional ideals and think like a man instead of thinking merely.
The terms used in this respect is the ones of ‘sluggard intellect’ and the victims of
the society. The obligation of this kind of thinking demands that the process of
thinking should be freed from the views from the perspective of the tradition and
history. In order to broaden the perspective from its congested vision it is

important that the man differ in his opinions from the popular ones. The three
influential factors that have been highlighted by Emerson in this respect are the
ones of nature. Emerson has hailed nature to be influential the humankind to the
greatest extent possible. The influences of the past is revived from the books
where they have been documented. The influence of the actions adopted by the
humankind should be influenced by the experiences earned by them in due course
of their life as well as through their earlier actions. The three influences noted
down by Emerson are influential in forming ones attitude towards reforming the
societal structure in order to establish their own cultural identity with their
intrinsic uniqueness. In the later part of the essay Emerson highlights with great
anticipation the duties those are crucial for the American scholars to undertake, if
they aspire to become the man who has to contribute to the benefits of entire
mankind with his evolved thinking devoid of the traditional attributes. Emerson
claims the need for reforming the human ideals as great spectacle that requires the
participation from the humankind who need to imbibe in them the values of
evolved thinking in their mind. The speech in the words of Emerson was aimed at
the providing a status of independence to those belonging to the intellectual
sphere of the American lives. The speech had earned Emerson a lifelong
reverence (Emerson, 2015).
3. Select 3 key sentences (not consecutive) from the reading(s) and analyze each
sentence separately. (250 words for each sentence analysis max not counting the
quote, cite the line) [The sample key line in the weekly video is ineligible for the
handout.]
1. One Man,—present to all particular men only partially, or through one faculty;
The concept of man as it has been evoked by Emerson is applicable to all the man
from all the different socio, political and cultural background. The segment quoted in
this respect draws its allegory from the famous fable, which suggests that the initially
there was only one man, who later had been divided into a number of name in order
to facilitate the functioning of the society in an effective way. The idea as it so
conveyed via the line suggests that the society function as an individual man where
the man from different background contributes in order to make its function effective.
However, in his proposition the society has disintegrated to the extent where by the
society does not contribute to the benefits of the individuals of the society in general.
The scholar who forms the integral part of the discussion as well as a part of the
society has disintegrated as well. As such the proposition of the subject of the essay is
not shaped around an individual but around an ideal that is abstract. The nature of the
scholar has declined from that of a conjoint thinking to the status of thinking in a
mere way. This is the sole problem that he highlights in the situation and he expects
to mitigate through his proposition of creating the true scholar of America, the
representative of the American intellectuals (Emerson, 2015).
2. And, in fine, the ancient precept, "Know thyself,"[14] and the modern precept,
"Study nature," become at last one maxim.
The point of Emerson in this respect is to suggest that the there is need to divert the
attention of the man from the traditional ideals of the thinking. As such they would be
able to contribute to the need of the current society which was looking forward to
reform their structure in order to re-establish their socio cultural identity. The lack of

the people of America was in invested in their traditional identity, the ones that is
‘ancient’ creating a hindrance in their autonomous social identity freed from the ones
imposed by the Europeans. He hails nature to be the source of inspiration for the
mankind as they need to reform their thinking. He ascribe the scholars from America
to gain the inspiration from the nature, which would be modern in its perspective and
thereby allow to create a conjoint idea of self. His proposition is toward reviving the
status of the one man suggesting the identity of the society before the disintegration
of the people belonging to it. By changing the direction of the thinking to the modern
outlook it is suggested that the present generation of the intellectual should contribute
to creating the identity of a larger mankind (Emerson, 2015).
3. Our age is bewailed as the age of Introversion.
At the final stage of the proposition, Emerson highlights the opportunities for the
contemporary generation of the scholars from America. According to the view of
Emerson, he hails the age to be the one of the romantic marked by classical thoughts,
which has been turned into the one of philosophy and reflection. He adopts the model
of the life of an individual to make the claim that the age of the societies can be
compared to that of the adulthood beginning from the childhood and passing through
the adoloesnce. However, in the view of the people of the society, the age is viewed
as that of the introversion, which according to Emerson is not regressive in nature.
Such stature of introversion is ascribed primarily because the contemporary
generation of the thinkers were disregarding the values of the earlier generation. The
work of the writers are invested in their ability to find the factors of beauty from the
regular day-to-day situations and connect them to the laws of the universe (Emerson,
2015).
Reminder: No handout grades will be dropped.
The handouts should reflect your individual work. They are not group assignments. Cheating on
a class assignment will result in failure of the assignment and an academic dishonesty report.

References
Emerson, R. W. (2015). Ralph Waldo Emerson. Harvard University Press.