Colonel Sherburn's (in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn) and Emerson's definition of a "man" (man stands for all mankind) both emphasize the importance of being an individual in a society of followers. However, in today's society, being a nonconformist over a conformist is hard even though many authors have advocated listening to the "beat of a different drummer.".
Few people actually follow their own ideas and decide for themselves what is good and bad, right and wrong, lawful and unlawful. Most people are like the proverbial sheep that follow the rest of the herd no matter where the herd goes and what the herd does. When they are in the herd, there is no thought of examining what they are doing; they just perform in stiff formation, one behind the other, in single-file motion. In order to become a man, a person must break away from the herd in order to find himself and follow those truths which he holds to be self-evident. Only then will the person be a true man in every sense of the word, thinking for himself and doing what is right in his own heart.
The character Hester from the novel The Scarlet Letter exclaims, "Exchange this false life of thine for a true one." If a person is living the way of life of another, then he is false and untrue to his own beliefs. He must rid himself of all compliance and establish his own basis by which to live. Emerson states, "No law can be sacred to me but that of my own nature." The point Emerson is trying to portray here is that the only laws he abides by are the laws he has set for himself. Emerson is such a true "man" that not even set laws will affect the origin of his principles. Colonel Sherburn also stands by the fact that to be a man, one must be unique in his or her beliefs. After killing a man for his drunkenness, a mob approaches his house. He tells the members of the mob that they are only being led by half of a man, Buck Harkness, and that they are all cowards.