A Separate Peace, The Natural, The Scarlet Letter, and The Old Man and the Sea :: Separate Peace Essays

A Separate Peace, The Natural, The Scarlet Letter, and The gray Man and the SeaIn the union-centered world that has existed for thousands of years, Emersons and Thoreaus recommendation of living as a self-reliant individualistic can be a difficult task to accomplish. Society puts instancy on its members to conform to its standards. Nonconformists are shunned by society and as a result allow difficulty retaining their nonconformist position. According to Emersons Self-Reliance, though, this nonconformist, independent positioning is the provided thing that can bring a person peace. Emerson believes a truly great man lives in the world, but at the equivalent time trusts himself, believes in himself, and is, in a word, independent. Many people devote apply the ideas of Emerson and Thoreau not only to their lives, but also to the characters in books they switch read, regardless of whether the author intended such interpretation. The ideas of Emerson and Thoreau can be applied t o many of the novels we read in class this year, including The Natural, A Separate Peace, The Old Man and the Sea, and The Scarlet Letter. In each of these novels the main character see many difficulties in which he either succeeded or failed. The successes and failures of any peculiar(a) character were a result of his self-reliance or of his society-reliance. In The Natural, by Bernard Malamud, the main character, Roy, failed to focus on what was best for him because of his reliance on society rather than on himself. This problem became evident early in the point when the woman Roy met on the train shot him. Had Roy focused on his game, peradventure gone out and practiced baseball rather than visited the woman, he never would have gotten shot. Having such skill as he had, he could have easily signed with the Cubs, and he could have had an extraordinary baseball career. alas for him, Roy put too high a priority on his consanguinity with the woman from the train. As a result, R oys baseball career not only didnt start for another 10-15 years, but also was nothing compared to the career he would have had with the Cubs. Generally, people learn from their mistakes. As Malamud writes on page 217, He Roy thought, I never did learn anything out of my past life, now I have to suffer again. Rather than straightening out his priorities in the years in the midst of the time he was shot and the time he actually vie baseball, Roy made no change.