As you read the following passage, pay attention to Emerson's use of figurative language to express his ideas about conformity versus individualism. "The other terror that scares us from self-trust is our consistency; a reverence for our past act or word because the eyes of others have no other data for computing our orbit than our past acts, and we are loath to disappoint them. But why should you keep your head over your shoulder? Why drag about this corpse of your memory,
lest you contradict somewhat you have stated in this or that public place? Suppose you should contradict yourself; what then? It seems to be a rule of wisdom never to rely on your memory alone, scarcely even in acts of pure memory, but to bring the past for judgment into the thousand-eyed present, and live ever in a new day."
What metaphor does Emerson use to express the idea that consistency for its own sake is unnecessary and burdensome?
A. He compares the use of memory to observing the world with a thousand eyes.
B. He compares the idea of public opinion to a person carrying a dead body.
C. He compares consistency of opinions to a planet orbiting a dead sun.
D. He compares previously expressed ideas to a corpse that a person drags around.