Essay On Emerson's Definition Of A Nonconformist

Nonconformist: a person who refuses to conform, as to establish customs, attitudes, or ideas. That is the dictionary's definition of a nonconformist. In the essay Self-Reliance, written by Ralph Waldo Emerson, the author provides the reader with his definition of a nonconformist. Although his definition is relatively similar to the dictionary’s version, it is a bit more complex. Emerson describes a nonconformist a someone who thinks for themselves rather than submit to the ideas of others; a person who doesn’t listen and feed off of the opinion of others but listens to their own personal convictions. Emerson says that in order to be a true nonconformist you need to, “Trust thyself…. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events” (Self-Reliance).
Being a nonconformist 100 - 200 years ago would’ve been much more risky than being a nonconformist in the 21st century. That doesn’t mean that being a nonconformist today is the new norm, or more common- that’s not what nonconformity is. Over the past several years there have been dozens of nonconformists (although they don’t necessarily label themselves that) who fight,

protest, ignore, resist, and defy certain social norms that most people wouldn’t have the willpower to do so. An example of an individual who meets Emerson's idea of a nonconformist is 18 year old Malala Yousafzai : an activist for female education who was left on the edge between life and death by the Taliban.
Malala was born in Mingora, the Swat district of Pakistan in 1997. The Taliban was a huge threat to her country and was at risk of being taken over. As the Taliban’s hold on her town got tighter, they started banning anything from music to T.V to limiting female education. This left Malala frustrated and upset, as she has always been an advocate for education. In 2009, at the age of 12, Malala began writing a blog anonymously for BBC conveying her notion on the importance of education for children and how life has been under the threat of the Taliban in her valley. As her blog became popular, her and her father - a poet and an advocate for education himself - were faced with death threats for speaking out against the Taliban. Later when the blog came to an end, Malala was revealed as the anonymous author after an interview she did with the New York Times. In 2012, the Taliban heard about her criticism of their group and voted to kill her. On October 9, 2012, and man boarded the school bus that included Malala and many other students and ordered to know which one of the girls was Malala. When it was revealed which one was her, he pulled out a gun and shot Malala in the head leaving her in critical condition.
In 2013, a year after the incident, Malala made a speech at the United Nations and wrote an autobiography. That same year she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and nominated again in 2014 and won. At 17 years old, this made her the youngest Nobel Peace Prize recipient. The award was not only for her, but “...for those forgotten children who want education. It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change” (Yousafzai). On her 18th birthday, Malala opened a school for Syrian refugee girls in Lebanon, further expanding her movement for global education.
What makes Malala a nonconformist and how she meets Emerson’s definition is the fact that she challenged and defied the Taliban’s initial ban on female education.

Knowing the Taliban had taped a death threat on her back and that her life was at risk, she still continued to fight for what she knew everyone deserved. After the Taliban began attacking girls schools, Malala gave a speech titled, “How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?” Her speech reminded me of a quote said by Emerson in his essay that goes, “I cannot consent to pay for a privilege where I have intrinsic right.” Malala knows that she -as well as many other children- deserves an education; attacking and terrorizing schools is not a price children should have to pay for wanting to become

educated.
What Malala is fighting for is not just for herself, its for other children all over the world who have been denied the right to a proper education. In her autobiography titled, I Am Malala, she says, “We realize the importance of our voices only when we are silenced” (Yousafzai and Lamb). In Emerson’s essay, he says, “The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he tried.” This quote by Emerson is an accurate representation of Malala’s journey. Malala never thought that she would be where she is today- making speeches before the United Nations, winning some of the most honorable and precious awards. When the Taliban tried to suppress the voices of others, Malala then raised her voice. “My goal in writing this book was to raise my voice on behalf of the millions of girls around the world who are being denied the right to go to school and realize their potential” (Yousafzai and Lamb 327).
Nonconformity is an important aspect in this world.