Emerson essentially believes that traveling is overrated. He supports this perspective through an initial focus on "the idea" of places like Italy, England, and Egypt, and the fascination of "educated Americans" with them. He argues that those places only took on the grand, majestic ideas that they represent because "they who made England, Italy, or Greece venerable in the imagination did so by sticking fast where they were, like an axis of the earth." Yes, those places are grand, but only because they so clearly represent the places that they are. The art and culture of Italy, England, and Egypt is authentic, and therefore significant. He continues, saying:
The soul is no traveller; the wise man stays at home, and when his necessities, his duties, on any occasion call him from his house, or into foreign lands, he is at home still, and shall make men sensible by the expression of his countenance, that he goes the missionary of wisdom and virtue, and visits cities and men like a sovereign, and not like an interloper or a valet.
In other words, even when people must travel, they should retain the identity of their home and keep it with them as much as possible. Travelers must keep self and origin at the forefront; no matter where they are, they must be who they are and not become something else for the sake of the place they find themselves in. He goes on to say that he has no objection to traveling for "purposes of art, of study, and benevolence," but qualifies this by saying that the traveler must first be "domesticated [and] not go abroad with the hope of finding somewhat greater than he knows." Emerson believes that people should not go elsewhere looking to obtain something that is not an inherent part of their character, as one who does so "travels away from himself, and grows old even in youth among old things. In Thebes, in Palmyra, his will and mind have become old and dilapidated as they. He carries ruins to ruins."
Explanation:
Yes, this is over 100 words, but from all of this, you can write your own 100 word analyzer. You can take all of this and form it into your own words and such. [ I found all of this on a website called enotes. ]
