Emerson

In the reading, Emerson argues that in order to be successful, an individual must maintain their own characteristics and resist the demand to conform to society. He believes that conform is the downfall of success in society because in conforming to what others wish to see in you, you are sacrificing the potential personalized achievements that you could have reached. Emerson also mentions that maintaining the same views is bad. While others wish an individual to maintain their views so that they can be defined, Emerson believes that frequently changing views depending on the circumstances is important. Although it is important to note Emerson's ideas here, most of the time success is only paired with a bit of both conform and individuality. In today's society, for example, a person can only be successful if others will allow them to be. If a person were to follow Emerson's example with the idea that if he maintains his lack of conformity, he will be successful, and his idea of success is sitting around all day and doing nothing, but receiving a large salary and benefits, that person will likely not reach his idea of success. That person must instead maintain the idea, but conform to something society appreciates. He could do this by going to Law School, and becoming a Congressman, where his job would be much the same as described, but his occasional voting would earn him the appreciation and wealth that is generally accepted as success.