Emerson Inspirational-ish Poster

In "The American Scholar", Emerson writes of learning and gives us the brilliant nugget, "Books are the best types of influence on the past"(246). As I have more books than I know what to do with, I found this line to be striking.  More often than not, when I tell someone I am an English major, I am subject to their asinine dronings about how I am paying for a worthless major.  Emerson's words ring true to my firm belief that books are not useless and offer a window into our past and the past in general.  In his essay, Emerson sets out to discuss what makes a great American scholar.  Books obviously are an essential part of learning.  Books can shape our ideas about the past, present, and future.  So take that people who think English majors are pointless. Emerson discusses the many areas of literature and their affects upon a scholar.  He states that "the theory of books is noble," and also discusses how books can preserve the past, yet we bring our modern readings and understandings to the past (247).  When the nugget is taken out of context, Emerson's larger argument is lost.  One misses his other nugget which qualifies the first nugget: Books are the best of things, well used: abused, among the worst (247).  Emerson furthers this argument throughout the text and also shows the downfalls or reliance upon a text.  The nobility of books, yet their inevitable downfalls, is lost when the quote is taken out of context.  As I love books, I was immediately struck by the first nugget, but the following nuggets made me more fully understand what Emerson was trying to say.  It also aided in understanding how books can be crutches and not ways to re-imagine the world.  When the creativity is lost, and people become complacent with the past (e.g., "the English dramatic poets have Shakespearized now for two hundred years", 247) then books are a hinderance.  By losing oneself in a book story, as grand as that may seem, it can have downfalls.  Books cannot give the whole story of the world.  This exercise displays that even by removing this quote from its page and the page following it, the quote can be misunderstood.
*I can't help but remember watching Scooby Doo 2 with my siblings.  As childish as it is, Fred's indignation over his quote being taken out of context was the first thing that popped into my mind when working on this assignment.