In the “Response to Emerson’s Self-Reliance” written by Miss Joy Zhou, Zhou explains how Emerson’s philosophy changed her life dramatically. Right from the start, Zhou exemplifies that “Self-Reliance” “is the most important factor in my past and future life”. (Zhou). This clearly demonstrates that she was impacted by the views of the Transcendentalist Emerson. Throughout her response, she anecdotally describes her life in high school after she graduated. Zhou ties in Emerson’s self-reliance beliefs by stating that, “I knew that I was trying my best for myself, to satisfy myself. I had confidence in myself.” (Zhou). These lines indeed allows the audience to understand that her goal in life was to strive to do the things that she wanted to do …show more content…
Personally, I mostly agree with her stance on being self-reliant and trusting yourself; however, I have to disagree with Zhou’s point when she states, “...a real self-helping person will never accept love and sympathy from others.” (Zhou). I believe that one can be both self-reliant and can be able to accept love and sympathy from others. It is in human nature to express kindness and lovingness and also to accept these actions. In addition, Zhou claims that “Society never advances.” (Zhou). Looking at our country’s history, it is clear to see that this statement is false. A couple hundred years ago, slavery was in our nation’s existence. However, as society grew and advanced, slavery became abolished. Although segregation and harsh discrimination was a large obstacle, society seemed to overcome it. Also, women were treated much differently back then. Today, society is much more accepting by treating everyone as an equal. This statement made by Zhuo is very ambiguous in trying to interpret. She does not present clear examples on why she believes that “Society never advances.” (Zhou). It is quite odd that she “will never contribute [herself] to society” since Zhou may perhaps come off readers as wanting to be isolated from society and just focus on her own