Passage (Ralph Waldo Emerson, *Self-Reliance*, 1841): "Trust thyself: every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so, and confided themselves childlike to the genius of their age, betraying their perception that the absolutely trustworthy was seated at their heart, working through their hands, predominating in all their being. And we are now men, and must accept in the highest mind the same transcendent destiny; and not minors and invalids in a protected corner, not cowards fleeing before a revolution, but guides, redeemers and benefactors, obeying the Almighty effort and advancing on Chaos and the Dark." The contrast between *minors and invalids in a protected corner* and *guides, redeemers and benefactors* serves to:
Aillustrate two equally valid stances toward one's age.
Bdescribe Emerson's own family life.
Cclassify society into two distinct economic groups.
Dcondemn one posture (sheltered passivity) and recommend the other (active leadership).
Answer & Solution
Correct answer: D. condemn one posture (sheltered passivity) and recommend the other (active leadership).
The structure is a moral contrast: *not minors and invalids... not cowards fleeing... but guides, redeemers and benefactors*. The *not / not / but* construction names the wrong postures and replaces them with the right one. Emerson is **prescribing**, not merely classifying.
- **A** treats the contrast as neutral.
- **C** misreads moral categories as economic classes.
- **D** is biographical and unsupported.
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