Listening to the conversation

I feel as though many of the texts we explored in class are interrelated. The theme of " American Born Chinese" and the excerpt we explored in class from Ralph Waldo Emerson's essay on self-reliance are similar. These pieces converse with each other and both bring forth insightful observations concerning identity and self-acceptance. In Emerson's essay it is stated that, "There is a time in every man's education when he arrives at the conviction that envy is ignorance; that imitation is suicide." Although this statement is rather ambiguous the observation can be made that a definitive risk exists in concentrating effort solely on being another person and not taking the time to explore or embrace who you truly are. In furtherance of this, if an individual is trying emphatically to imitate another person they may lose themselves in the process. They may forfeit their soul. It is here the overlapping of themes can be witnessed. As I sit here attempting to listen to the Dove commercial, Emerson's essay, American Born Chinese, and a variety of other contrasting modes of representation converse. I have come to a conclusion. I hear them all saying relatively the same thing but in different ways. Due to this each time a new participant enters this perpetual conversation within my mind, something unique is revealed that provides new insight transcending what a singular mode of representation could provide on their own. It is comparable to a color wheel; the red of Emerson's Essay on self reliance when coupled with the blue of the Dove commercial produces a majestic purple derived from an enriched understanding concerning the nature of self-acceptance in contemporary society.