Self-reliance :: essays research papers

The idea of self-assertion is an American idea.Self-reliance is a way of life when ane is reliant on onesown capabilities, judgment, and resources. When someoneis self-reliant they are completely Independent. ManyAmerican authors have used examples of this idea,self-reliance, in a lot of their writing.For example, in a Progress to the Mines by Byrdexamples of self-reliance are present. In the beginning ofthe story Byrd writes about a character who ... rode eightmiles together over a stony road, in order to get to ahouse. This shows self-reliance because riding eight miles,all by himself, is a nasty task to accomplish. Especially corroboratethen when the story took place because there werentvery many people around to serving one if one got intotrouble. Byrd shows another example of self-reliance whenhe was describing one of the main characters who ran aniron mill. He described him as ...so great a master in themystery of making Iron, where in he had led the way andwas the tubal -cain of Virginia. This shows self-reliancebecause Byrd shows that this character is the best ironmaker around and that hes self-reliant in doing it. Byrdshows self-reliance one time once again while describing this samecharacter. He said He was... first in North America whohad erected a regular furnace. This shows self-reliancebecause he set up this iron mill and furnace in the middle ofnowhere with no help from anyone else. All three of theseexamples show that Byrd has examples of self-reliance inhis writing.Another American source who has examples ofself-reliance in his writing is Franklin. In Franklins PoorRichards Almanac he shows many examples ofself-reliance. Franklin says that God helps them that helpthemselves. This greatly advocates self-reliance. Franklinis saying that you should help yourself, i.e. be self-reliant,before looking to God, or anyone else, for help. Franklinshows self-reliance again when he says Keep thy shopand thy shop will keep thee. Franklin is saying that if youwork hard at something like keeping a shop you will besupported by that hard work and that you will beself-reliant. Franklin shows self-reliance once again bysaying, At the working mans house hunger looks in, butdares not enter. In this quote Franklin is saying that if youwork hard youll never be hungry, youll never have todepend on someone else for food, and that youll beself-reliant. These three examples show that Franklin hasexamples of self-reliance in his book Poor RichardsAlmanac.In an other piece of writing by Franklin, TheAuto-Biography, examples of self-reliance are also present.In this book Franklin writes about his childhood.