Gifts

Emerson has a very unique perspective on the dynamic between the giver and reciever of gifts. Most of us think of the most expensive thing we have been given when we are asked what the best gift we have ever been given is. He says that a gift given should reflect on the giver as a sort of biography or piece of that person. Otherwise the gift should reflect the relationship between the giver and reciever. Emerson provides a social commentary when he says that we as a society ask for the whole, and are not satisfied when we recieve less than that. Emerson also creates a paradox withing his own logic by saying this because another of Emerson's points is that we as people desire to be self-sustained at all times. So having an unfullfilled desire when we recieve a gift that is not to our liking contradicts our need to stay within ourselves and to remain self-contained. He is reflecting on the greedy nature of us as a society but does not offer any way for us to possibly change our ways. He is critiquing our consumer ideals and how the giving of gifts has lost meaning beyond simply the immediate gratification of our material wants.