"Whoso would be a man must be a nonconformist," said the great Ralph Waldo Emerson in Self Reliance. His words made quite an impact, enough to inspire Henry David Thoreau's Civil Disobedience, based on becoming a non-conformist and spending a night in jail for his beliefs. Although Thoreau's essay is an actual account of acting out his non-conformist beliefs, Emerson's essay preaches the lifestyle of independence that non-conformists live. The "rebellious" essays of Emerson and Thoreau are both strong examples of celebrating the individualist.
             Initially, Thoreau and Emerson have similar ideas about the human mind. Emerson states, "Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind." He is implying that as long as one's mind is honest and clear, that nothing else matters. Thoreau mentions that at his stay in jail, he "-did not for a moment feel confined, and the walls seemed a great waste of stone and mortar." He is explaining despite the fact that his body was locked in a jail cell, his mind was free; he still had "the integrity" of his own mind. Furthermore, Thoreau applied what Emerson felt about being your own person to what he felt the government should be able to tell people to do. Emerson wrote, "What I must do is all that concerns me, not what the people think." In other words, he is his own man, and thinks for himself. Thoreau said, "But a government in which the majority rule in all cases cannot be based on justice, even as far as men understand it." He is trying to clarify that a government is not fair if only the "most important people" or the majority, decide what is best for us. This is where Emerson's idea that we should think for ourselves and be our own people comes into play.
             Finally, Emerson and Thoreau both explain that there is a downside to nonconformity. Emerson declares, ...