Outline of the first half of Emerson's "Self-Reliance"

The First Part of Self-Reliance is roughly divided into three sections:

1.    Introduction

An admonition to "Trust thyself"

According to Beaumont and Fletcher, what is the "fatal shadow" that walks by us throughout our life?
Paragraph 1--
What's Emerson's definition of genius?
Name some of the historical characters who spoke and wrote what they thought?
If we don't speak and write what we think today, what will happen tomorrow?
Paragraph 2 --
Imitation is ??? What does that mean?
Paragraph 3--
What are we advancing on when we trust ourselves and our own thoughts and heart?

2.    An exploration of one of the mental forces which tries to prevent us from trusting ourselves:  conformity

Para 4--
Who are naturally the best examples of such people who do not conform their thoughts to others?
Para 5--
Who must you pay attention to because they don't care what you think?
What seems to happen to a person once they speak with "éclat"? How does that person's relationship to others change?

P 6--
When Emerson says "solitude," he means "in your most private thoughts."
What is the main purpose of society?
What are we expected to do to ensure that we get food?
What is the opposite of self-reliance?

P 7--Very problematic paragraph full of scary, scary ideas:
How does Emerson respond when the preacher points out that his thoughts may be "from below"?
According the Emerson, when the United Way comes to you asking for money for the children of India, what is the appropriate response? 
We are more concerned with what kinds of things than we are with being who we truly are (remember two specific words from the text)?
Who should you give your time, money and consideration to?
When your "genius" calls, what should you do (specific reference to the details of the text needed)?
Who is educated at college?
What will Emerson write on the lintels of his doorpost?

P 10--
When a person speaks from a dead institution or defends a position which is not his/her own (like a politician or lawyer), what do you already know which makes it a waste of time to listen to that person?
And what is it that you really have trouble seeing about that person?
When we listen to a person like that out of a feeling of survival or politeness, what do we end up looking like? How does our face change when we listen to a "retained attorney"?  

P 11--
Even the man who doesn't conform and thinks his own thoughts and says what he wants, even the "firm man" is intimidated by what. . . . ? But he is not intimidated by what by itself?

3.    An exploration of the second mental force which tries to prevent us from trusting ourselves:  consistency

P 11--
What's the definition of "consistency," according to Emerson (your own words)?
P 13--
What will people say if you are inconsistent?
Who are some of the great men who Emerson says were inconsistent?
P 14--
What can a person not overcome in the end?
What tries to overcome that thing?
What should be in his book?

Quiz Questions:

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," when a preacher gets up and says that he is going to preach on the value of a church doctrine or practice, what is he being?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," why do people surrender their liberty to society and do what they are asked even if it means doing that which their impulses/intuitions tell them is wrong?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," the course of our lives, our opinions or words and our actions should be like a . . . .

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," what is the name of the event in which you recognize most fully the Truth or see the right course of action to take?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," what shames us when we refuse to say "I am" and, instead, quote a saint or sage?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," what's wrong with sending money to Barbadoes to further the cause of abolition of slavery there?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," where do the Truths of genius come from?

According to Emerson in "Self-Reliance," which is the most powerful being who can speak the truth without regard for consequences or worrying over their own interests and needs?

Famous Quotes from Emerson's "Self-Reliance"

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide; that he must take himself for better, for worse, as his portion."

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine Providence has found for you. . . . Great men have always done so and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age."

"Society is a joint-stock company in which the members agree for the better securing of his bread to each shareholder, to surrender the liberty and culture of the eater. The virtue in most request is conformity. Self-reliance is its aversion."

"A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and divines. With consistency a great soul has simply nothing to do. He may as well concern himself with his shadow on the wall."