Self-Reliance

I thought this essay was very interesting. I agree with Emerson that conformity does hurt the person you are and can damage individuality. However, I also think that conformity is a slippery subject. If you do not conform to society, you are technically conforming to nonconformity. I think it's nearly impossible sometimes not to conform in certain ways. Also, sometimes people judge others as conformists when it's not necessarily true. In fact, just today my friend called me a conformist because I love the artist Monet. And as it so happens, I've loved him since I was six, before I knew he was highly popular, just from the prints hanging in my house. So conformity is not an easy subject to deal with. Technically, everyone is conforming to society's norms by attending school in clothes, aside from the fact that you can get arrested if you don't. But everyone conforms in some way. It's not a horrible thing, in small doses, but everyone should develop their own unique belief system and values, to truly appreciate their unique self.