Objective: Answer all the questions and define all the vocabulary words in this reading guide in order to prepare for the quiz. Print these quides out and keep them close as you read the assignments. Use them to take notes.

Paraphrase, please. No quoting of the original text:

Conformity

Why, according to Emerson, whould the "bantling" be thrown into the wild??

What is so special about the artist that he has been reading?

Genius is..... [Remember, no quoting!!]?

What do Moses, Plato, and Milton have in common and why does that make them touchstones of greatness? Why is it, according to the top of the second page, that folks often reject their own thoughts? What will the stranger say that will make us ashamed of ourselves?

Emerson compares our minds to an agricultural activity: What is the activity of our minds compared to and what is the significance of that comparison, what's the "moral" of the comparison?

Emerson contrasts two sources of knowledge, one of which is authentic and original and one of which is second hand and derivative: What are the two sources of knowledge?

What note does the spiritual violin play at the beginning of paragraph 3 [no quoting, please]

What can babies turn adults into and how do they do that?

Think about this: Is Emerson's description of "boys" accurate in your experience? Elaborate, please.

What is it that throws the "man" [as contrasted to the boy] into prison and what does that prison that he is referring to consist of; how's it made and what made of?

Lethe: "The mythical Greek river separating the living from the dead. When the dead cross over, they forget, thus, for the 'committed person' there is no forgetting about all the people who watch his actions and words. The following sentence shifts back to the uncontrolled 'boy-man' and admires his independence."

Society is ...... WHAT [don't quote]? ..... and what is it demanding from everyone? Explain how "bread" could be considered a pun in this famous quote about liberty and culture.

Which side is Emerson on, the side of respected and long accepted Truths or on the side of his own personal impulses and constitutions and why does his friend find that to be dangerous?

Why does Emerson turn down the man soliciting money for the freedom of blacks in Barbadoes [several possible answers]?

What is the antidote to sentimental and manipulative appeals to our emotions and name 3 or 4 institutions named by Emerson which regularly use such appeals on us?

In what spirit or why do most people do good things and how is that different from the spirit in which Emerson thinks virtues should be done?

In terms of living in the world with others or living in perfect isolation from society, who are the most virtuous, the morally strongest of men and women?

What are the 3 "screens" [named by Emerson] behind which or under which men and women hide their true selves?

Emerson compares or analogizes preaching to another occupation: What is that other occupation and how are they alike according to Emerson?

Another analogy and what sense does it make: How does nature dress us up when we do not "trust ourselves"? Can you compare this to another situation with which you have direct experience?

What institution causes the faces of the population to change and how do those faces change?

Emerson describes the combination of two social forces which together can become dangerous: What are the two forces and who is it that can withstand the power of that combination?

Consistency
Consistency, according to Emerson, is ...... What?

How should you judge the past and what does that mean to you?

Why is it not such an insult to be misunderstood when you seem inconsistent from one day to the next? Is Emerson right about this?

What is it that "determines" a person's actions and behavior and causes him or her to be sometimes inconsistent?

What should his book be saturated with and how is that related to the previous question?

How is the life which seems full of inconsistency actually unified? What analogy does Emerson use to describe this seeming paradox?

What "bad thing" did Caesar, Jesus, Luther, Fox do to history? What effect did they have on society and culture?

Describe a time in which you felt as Emerson describes when architecture, books, fine clothing ["gay equipage"] had on you as it does the man who "peeps and steals" through the world?

What point is being made by the story of the "sot" found in the street?

Emerson suggests that the subject of history should be changed: Changed from what to what does he suggest?

What is the name of the "deep force" that makes some people magnetic and powerful and what is your definition of that word?

What is the source of that "deep force" and "primary wisdom"?

What disappears when the deep force" and "primary wisdom" are experienced?

When someone claims to have the "deep force" and "primary wisdom," how do we know he does not really have it?

Famous Quotes:

"There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide;"

"Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string."

"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."

"Who would be a man must be a nonconformist."

"For non-conformity the world whips you with its displeasure. And therefore a man must know how to estimate a sour face."

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

"An institution is the lengthened shadow of one man."

"We lie in the lap of immense intelligence, which makes us organs of its activity and receivers of its truth."