Me, Myself, and I

Emerson and Franklin's views on self-reliance are similar (since Emerson was a Transcendentalist), but still different. Of course, there was the difference in literary periods. Franklin lived in the age of Rationalism, while Emerson was an author of the Romantic period, and both periods were each others polar opposite. While both men wrote about the importance of being self-sufficient, the methods of doing this varied between them.

To elaborate on my first point, the style with which both essays were written was obviously vastly different. Emerson often tied emotions, the soul, and the heart into his essay on self-reliance; Franklin used logic to explain himself. Romanticism was the backlash period in response to Rationalism, so it only makes sense that Emerson would speak about entirely different things than Franklin would.

The other point of mine is the methods prescribed by these two authors for the obtaining of self-reliance. One of the main themes that struck me in Emerson's essay was his insistence on minding one's own business and not being charitable towards others. It struck me mainly because Romanticism was all about the heart, so I figured that Romantics would be compassionate towards their fellow humans. However, this strange practice might have been because Emerson was a Transcendentalist, an author who exhibited Rationalist and Romantic qualities in his work. However strange it may seem, though, the practice of "survival of the fittest" in Self-Reliance does make sense. Emerson's reasoning was that it would make other people become self-reliant, or that it would get rid of them. While this does seem harsh, it ties in with the Transcendentalist theme.

That theme does not mesh with Franklin's theme, however, because he promoted charity in his autobiography and most of his works. It still seems rather strange though, that the Rationalist would be the charitable one, while the Romantic would keep to himself so much. It just goes to show you that not everything you learn outside of the classroom matches up with what you learn in it.