This paper will reveal how self-reliance plays an integral part in the essays that have been written about the subject. With the likes of Robert Frost, Ralph Emerson, Kitty Tsui, Chinua Achebe, Shirley Jackson, and Sophocles, we can see how they portray their own versions of the self-reliance in their work. By analyzing this in respect to literature, we can learn how this voice arises in the text they offer.