Self Reliance and Other Essays Lesson Plan

Reread this passage from "An Address": "Whilst a man seeks good ends, he is strong by the whole strength of nature. In so far as he roves from these ends, he bereaves himself of power, or auxiliaries; his being shrinks out of all remote channels, he becomes less and less, a mote, a point, until absolute badness is absolute death." What do you think Emerson's term "remote channels" refers to? Why do you think he describes the process of giving in to "badness" as a shrinking? What, by contrast, would happen to the person who "seeks good ends"? What is the effect of this spatial imagery on you as you read the passage? What does it symbolize, and can you think of any modern examples that...